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ROSE BERTIN

THE CREATOR OF FASHION AT THE
COURT OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE

<iy'< OrSC

J C ( fc ? I

ROSE BERTIN

THE CREATOR OF FASHION
AT THE COURT OF MARIE-
ANTOINETTE

EMILE LANGLADE

ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH

DR. ANGELO S. RAPPOPORT

AUTHOR OF "royal LOVERS AND MISTRESSES." " MAD MAJESTIES,'

" LEOPOLD II." ETC.

WITH 25 ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
CHARLES SGRIBNER'S SONS

153 FIFTH AVENUE
1913

PREFACE

The present work, which I have translated — and in
many places adapted — from the French, is not a mere
biographical account of Rose Bertin, the famous
milliner of Marie- Antoinette. The author has made a
minute study of the fashions of the day, and gives us
a description of the eccentricities of the last days of the
French monarchy as far as dress was concerned. He
makes us acquainted with the peculiar tastes, and one
may add the aberrations, of fashionable and aristocratic
Versailles under Louis XV. and Louis XVL But
the author of the present work does more ; he allows
us here and there a peep into a private boudoir of a
great lady of the period, and, above all, into the life
and character of that unfortunate Queen, who, though
wayward and petulant, proud and thoughtless, could
be kind and generous and true to her friends.

Rose Bertin knew it. The Queen had admitted
her to familiarity, and, although she often availed
herself of this august friendship in her own interests
and in those of her relations, she was grateful for it
until her death. And when adversity had befallen the
daughter of the Csesars, the little milliner gave a

vi PREFACE

noble and unselfish proof of her attachment and
devotion.

Rose Bertin had attained to European fame. The
entire fashionable world were contending for caps of
her making ; and in relating her history the author
shows us what an importance was attached to fashion,
and what esteem its creators enjoyed at the Court of
Versailles. This book, therefore, is to some extent,
not only the history of Rose Bertin, but of an entire
period.

A. S. RAPPOPORT

CONTENTS

' PAGE

Preface v

CHAPTER

I. The Beginning of a Famous Milliner — Her

Influence at Court 11

II. Rose Bertin and the Chevalier d'Eon 34

III. Mme. Du Barry — The Pilgrimage to Mon-

flieres — The Great Fashion — A Versailles
Scandal - 87

IV. The End of Eccentricities — Rose Bertin^ Rue

de Richelieu — Her Pretended Bankruptcy 133

V. The Last Years of the Monarchy — Decline

of Business — Rose Bertin's House Property 180

VI. Rose Bertin during the Revolution — Journeys

TO Germany and England - 211

VII. The Massacre in the Rue de la Loi — Last

Years of Rose Bertin 274

VIII. The Heirs of Rose Bertin — Sainte-Beuve's

Opinion on the Memoirs 302

Index 319

Vll

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Rose Bertin
Princesse de Conti

FroTitispicce

FACING PAGE

Marie- Antoinette

Fashion in 1775

Duchesse de Chartres

Fashion in 1776 : Bonnet called " Le Lever de la Reine" 44

Mile. Rose in Morning Toilette

Chapeau a la Grenade, 1779

Princesse de Lamballe

Fashion in 1778

Mme. Du Barry

Miss Coneingue out of Opera

100

Polonnoise h, la PoulettC;, 1779

110

A Fashionable Dressmaker delivering her Work

120

Dress k la Suzanne -

134

Marie-Antoinette

154

Marie Adelaide de France

166

Madame Royale

180

Fashion in 1788

190

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Mme. Elisabeth 210

Princesse de Lamballe 2l6

Duchesse d'Angouleme 230

Princesse de Lamballe 242

Mme. Tallien 256

Empress Maria-Theresa 286

ROSE BERTIN

THE CREATOR OF FASHION AT THE
COURT OF MARIE- ANTOINETTE

CHAPTER I

THE BEGINNING OF A FAMOUS MILLINER HER

INFLUENCE AT COURT

(1770-1774)

The reign of Marie- Antoinette was one of futility and
chiffon ; and if the Queen did not create the office of a
Minister of Fashion, the Court of Versailles was never-
theless always crowded with hairdressers, dressmakers,
and milliners, who exercised more influence than the
King's Councillors. Rose Bertin was one of their
number. Her real name was Marie- Jeanne Bertin,
and thus she figures in all biographical dictionaries.
She was born at Amiens in 1744, but recent researches,
made in the archives of Abbeville, have fixed July 2,
1747, as the exact date of her birth. This is con-
firmed by an extract from her birth certificate inserted
in the register of the parish of St. Gilles, and signed
by the curate, Falconnier. Her parents were people
of very small means, and the earnings of the father

12 ROSE BERTIN

did not suffice to educate the two children, Marie-
Jeanne and her brother, Jean-Laurent, two years
younger than herself. To augment the budget of the
family, the mother was obliged to exercise the pro-
fession of sick-nurse. Marie- Jeanne had thus received
a very modest education, but sufficient to develop her
sense of ambition. Nature had been kind to her ; she
was beautiful, and she knew it — women are never
unconscious of such things, and are always ready to
profit by it — but Marie- Jeanne was also endowed with
a great deal of intelligence, which enabled her to make
her way in life.

She had faith in her star. One day a gipsy foretold
her future. Rose was only a child when the gipsy
was arrested and imprisoned. The cronies of the
neighbourhood, talkative and superstitious, told won-
derful things of the prisoner who had read the future
in the palms of their hands. The child became
curious, and longed to know what lay in store for her.
But she had no money to pay the old woman for her
prophecies, and neither father nor mother Bertin would
ever consent to spend a trifle on such childish whims.
Rose therefore starved herself, and carried her portion
of food to the prisoner. Prisons in those days were
not what they are now, and the girl easily obtained
access to the imprisoned gipsy, who, in exchange for
a succulent dish, consented to lift the mysterious veil
of the future. Taking the white hand of the child
between her own long, dirty fingers, she said senten-
tiously : " You will rise to great fortune, and will

A FAMOUS MILLINER 13

one day wear a Court dress." Rose left the prison,
her face beaming with joy.

But Nicholas Bertin,her father, who was seventy-two
years old, died on January 24, 1754, leaving the burden
of the family and the upbringing of the children to
his widow. Rose loved her mother, and she was
not a girl to allow the latter to work too much when
she was in a position to come to her assistance. She
was sixteen now, and one day she made up her mind
to leave home, and mounted the coach which took her
to Paris. Little did her people, who were sadly
watching her departure, think that Rose was going
to meet her fortune.

Rose Bertin was not awkward ; they soon perceived
it in the millinery shop kept by Mile. Pagelle, under
the name of the Trait Galant, where Rose had found
a situation. And yet the Trait Galant — which
furnished not only the Court of France, but also that
of Spain — enjoyed, as far as morals were concerned, a
most respectable reputation, a fact of somewhat rare
occurrence among the ladies of the millinery profes-
sion. It was about that time, too, that Jeanne B^cu,
who afterwards became the famous Mme. Du Barry,
was apprenticed in the millinery shop of Labille, which
was situated in the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs,
near the Place des Victoires. Jeanne B^cu, who was
known at that time by the name of Mile. Lanson,
justified the reputation of the ladies of her profession,
and had many lovers. Mile. Oliva, who was after-
wards to play her part in the famous aifair of the

14 ROSE BERTIN

necklace, was also a milliner, and was leading a life
similar to that of Jeanne Becu. Rose Bertin had been
in the employ o£ Mile. Pagelle for a short time, when
an event occurred which was to decide her future.

Among the customers of the Trait Galant was
Mme. de la Saune, formerly Mile. Caron, and mistress
of the Comte de Charolais, to whom she had borne
two daughters. The Count having died, the Princesse
de Conti obtained letters of legitimization for the two
girls, who took the name of Miles, de Bourbon. The
elder soon married the Comte de Puget, whilst the
younger became the wife of M. de Lowendal. The
wedding dresses of the young ladies had been ordered
at the Trait Galant^ and the Princesse de Conti had
asked to see the dresses herself

It was about eight o'clock in the evening when
Mile. Pagelle despatched Rose to the Hotel de Conti
with the dresses o£ the Demoiselles de Bourbon. It
was bitter cold, and when the milliner arrived at the
palace, and asked to see the Princess, she was shown
into a room where a huge fire was blazing. In a
corner near the fireplace an old woman — whom Rose
took for a chamber maid — was seated. She got up as
soon as the girl entered, exclaiming, *'Ah, you have
brought the dresses of the Demoiselles de Bourbon !
let me see." Rose satisfied her curiosity, and the two
soon began to chat amicably, when they were in-
terrupted by a Lady-in- Waiting. " What," exclaimed
the latter, '' is your Highness here? " " Yes," replied
the Princess, " and I have been enjoying myself

princessp: de conti

To face page 1 4

A FAMOUS MILLINER 15

immensely." Rose Bertin was quite embarrassed; she
threw herself at the feet of Her Highness and begged
for forgiveness. But the Princess told her that she
had committed no breach of etiquette in having been
natural, especially as she was ignorant of the identity
of her interlocutress. She assured the milliner of her
good -will and protection for the future.

This event is related in the "M^moires de Mile.
Bertin" and published in 1824. These m^7noires are
now proved to have been written by J. Penchet with
the purpose of whitewashing the memory of Marie-
Antoinette and exculpating her from certain accusa-
tions. It is, however, impossible that Penchet should
have related certain anecdotes without having heard
them from the people whom they concerned, and with
whom he found himself in constant contact.

The Princesse de Conti had thus taken a decided
fancy to Rose, and the latter soon received proofs of
Her Highness's kindness.

The Due de Chartres was going to marry Louise-
Marie-Adelaide de Bourbon, daughter of the Due
de Penthievre, and the richest heiress in the kingdom,
and, thanks to the Princesse de Conti, Rose had received
the order to make the trousseau for the bride. Great
was the pride of Rose Bertin when she announced the
good news to her employer. Mile. Pagelle, who had
long ago ceased to consider Rose as a simple employee,
opened her arms, and, embracing the little milliner,
exclaimed: "Little one, from this moment you may
consider yourself as my partner." And henceforth the

16 ROSE BERTIN

business of the Trait Galant had two heads, and the
most turbulent partner, whose mind was constantly ir
search for new designs and models, was the little girl
from Picardy, daring and ambitious, and who knew that
she was ffoino; to make her fortune and a name famous
in Europe.

The Duchesse de Chartres also became a protectress
of Rose, and she soon found a third in Mme. de
Lamballe. But Rose was beautiful, elegant, and
graceful. She had above all an air of distinction, and
attracted a great deal of attention. One day the Due
de Chartres noticed her in the apartments of his wife.
She took his fancy. He spoke to her, and unhesi-
tatingly made love to her. Would she become his
mistress ? He offered her diamonds, horses, a
carriage, a fine furnished hotel, if she would onl^
consent to listen to his impassioned declarations.
But, to his utmost surprise, the little milliner would
not listen to the proposals of the noble Duke. The
latter was nonplussed, and the more obstinate Rose
was, the more desperate the lover grew. He at last
decided to carr}^ the girl off to a little house in
Neuilly, where he hoped to make her yield to his
wishes. Rose was informed of the plan by a valet oi
the Duke, and she lived in constant fear of being kid-
napped and carried off to the secluded house at
Neuilly. She scarcely ventured to leave her house at
night. She knew too well the life led by the noble-
men of her time, who modelled their conduct upon
that of the King himself, and the abduction of a little
milliner in those days would pass absolutely un-

A FAMOUS MILLINER 17

noticed. Every morning she went for her orders to
the Duchesse de Chartres, and nothing had as yet
happened, when one day she was called to the
Comtesse d'Usson for an important order. Rose was
conversing with the Comtesse, when the Duke was
announced, and Mme. d'Usson rushed to meet His
Highness. Rose was evidently being forgotten, and,
noticing an easy-chair, she calmly sat down. The
Comtesse looked surprised, and motioned to the girl
to get up. The milliner took no notice of her
hostess, who at last exclaimed :

'* Mile. Rose, you evidently seem to forget that
you are in the presence of His Highness.''

'' Not at all, madame," replied Rose ; " I am not
forgetting it at all."

*' Then, why are you behaving as you do ?"

" Ah !" answered the little milliner, " Mme. la
Comtesse is evidently not aware of the fact that if I
only wished it I could become Duchesse de Chartres
to-night."

The Duke changed colour, but said nothing, whilst
the Comtesse looked surprised, with the air of some-
one who is waiting for the solution of a riddle.

" Yes, madame,'' continued Rose, " I have been
offered everything that can tempt a poor girl, and
because I have refused I am now in dano^er of beine:
kidnapped. If, therefore, one day your bonnets and
dresses are not ready, and you are told that little Rose
has disappeared, you will have to address yourself to
His Highness, who will know of her whereabouts."

18 ROSE BERTIN

" What do you say to this, monseigneur ?" asked
the Comtesse d'Usson.

" What can I say ?" replied the latter. '* All means
are fair when it is a question of subduing a rebel, and
I can surely not be blamed for having tried to obtain
the favour of such an amiable and beautiful young
lady."

'' Monseigneur is perfectly right to prefer a little
milliner to his august wife the Princess, who possesses
the highest qualities ; but you will admit, madame,
that I too may be allowed to treat familiarly one who is
so anxious to make me his companion. If His High-
ness will only not forget his rank, I will certainly
remember the extreme distance which separates us."
Thus spoke Rose, and making a low bow to the
Duke, who was murmuring, " You are a little
viper," she left the room, leaving His Highness
much perplexed. Henceforth, however, he ceased
worrying the milliner with his assiduities.

Rose Bertin did not remain very long in partner-
ship with Mile. Pagelle. She soon established her
own business, thanks to the help she had received
from the Duchesse de Chartres. The latter was in
the habit of thus helping poor girls and setting them
up in business. Rose Bertin often met the protegees of
the Duchess in the antechamber of the ducal palace.
One of these protegees Avas Marie the flower-girl,
whom the Duchess had once met in the street and
taken a fancy to.

Not only had the Duchess provided the funds for

A FAMOUS MILLINER 19

Eose*s business, but she also recommended hei to a
fashionable clientele. At that moment the talk of
Court and town was the approaching marriage of the
Dauphin with the daughter of Empress Maria-
Theresa. In March, 1770, the Duchesse de Chartres
went to see Mme. de Noailles, who had been ap-
pointed Lady-in-Waiting to the Dauphine, and Mme.
de Misery, chosen to be First Chambermaid. She spoke
highly of her prot(^gee, praising not only her talents,
but also her manners, and, supported by the Princesses
de Conti and Lamballe, she procured for Rose the
advantage of furnishing the dresses and finery which
were to be offered to Marie- Antoinette at Strasburg
on her arrival on French soil.

Milliners in the eighteenth century were not what
they are nowadays ; they not only trimmed hats, but
also arranged and ornamented dresses. There were
a good many milliners in Paris in those days, and
some of them exercised their trade on the Quai de
Gevres, where Rose Bertin is supposed to have kept
a shop for some time. In any case, she remained
there only a short time, and soon we find her estab-
lished in the Rue de St. Honoro, which was the
centre of commerce during the reign of Louis XVI.
The signboard of her business contained the inscrip-
tion " Au Grand Mogol." The houses in those days
were not numbered, and the signboards were there-
fore very important, especially as far as the mer-
chants were concerned. Each had his signboard
with an inscription so as to avoid confusion. Thus

20 ROSE BERTIN

one could read in the Rue de St. Honore, '' Au
Trait Galant," " Au Grand Mogol," '' Au Bouquet
Galant," " A la Corbeille Galante," and many others.

The reputation of Rose Bertin grew rapidly, and
soon reached her native town. Among her customers
she counted several inhabitants of Abbeville^ a fact
which was testified by her books of account.

In the meantime the new Dauphine, very fond of
chiffon and ribbons and of all feminine finery, was
going to introduce — or at least to augment — at
the Court of Versailles the cult of fashion, which
is often nothing but an insupportable slavery. When
Rose Bertin had the honour of approaching Marie-
Antoinette for the first time, she at once knew, thanks
to her flail' as a business w^oman and her subtlety as a
native of Picardy, what benefit she could derive from
her situation. She had only to flatter the Dauphine,
which was not so very difficult, and by pleasing the
latter vastly increase her own income.

According to the " Souvenirs " of Leonard, Rose
Bertin is supposed to have been introduced to the
Dauphine in 1772. The author of these " Souvenirs "
is unknown, and the authenticity of the work has
been contested ; but it is one of the few writings
which make allusion to Mile. Bertin. This so-called
Leonard not only pretends that he was the first to
introduce Rose to Marie- Antoinette, but he even
boasts of his intimate relations with the beautiful
milliner. We shall quote the following passage from
these *' Souvenirs":

A FAMOUS MILLINER 21

" One morning I was informed by my servant that
a young lady wished to see me. 1 soon found myself
in the presence of a young, beautiful, and very elegant
person, whose manners were charming. Her manner
w^as at first somewhat reserved. I at once thousfht
that tlie charming person had come to solicit my
influence at Court in her own favour or in favour of
some relation. And, indeed, I was not mistaken. I
made the young lady sit down near the fireplace, and
I at once noticed that she often availed herself of the
opportunity to show her beautifully-shaped foot ; and
a beautifully-shaped ankle always makes a man dis-
posed to listen favourably to a woman.

'' ' You will not be surprised at my visit, M. Leo-
nard,' said this seductive person, ' if I tell you who
I am. My name is Rose Bertin. The Princesse
de Conti and the Duchesse de Chartres have kindly
promised to introduce me to Her Royal Highness
the Dauphine ; but you know what these great ladies
are — one must never press them. I have there-
fore come to you, M. Leonard, whose constant
attendance upon Her Highness will give you ample
opportunities to speak on my behalf And you are
constantly being consulted upon everything relating
to dress — your recommendation will no doubt have
a decisive effect' "

M. Leonard promised his help. And, indeed,
he kept his word, and at the very first opportunity
he mentioned the name of Rose Bertin to the
Dauphine.

^^ ROSE BEKTIN

" Mile. Rose Bertin !" said Marie - Antoinette.
''You are right to mention her to me, for I now
remember that the Duchesse de Chartres and the
Princesse de Conti have also spoken of her in very
high terms. Comtesse de Misery," continued the
Dauphine, turning to her first Lady-in- Waiting, " will
you please write to Mile. Rose Bertin, and command
her presence here to-morrow."

Rose Bertin was punctual, and introduced to
Marie-Antoinette according to all the rules of Court
etiquette. Marie- Antoinette gave the young milliner
an order of 20,000 livres. Thus, according to the
author of the " Souvenirs," Rose Bertin became Court
milliner of the Dauphine in 1772. The dates are in
all probability exact, but the details of the intro-
duction and presentation of Rose Bertin to Marie-
Antoinette as given by Leonard are pure invention.
Leonard Anti^, who enjoyed a considerable reputa-
tion, did not live in the Palace of Versailles, as the
" Souvenirs " pretend. He was the hairdresser of
Marie-Antoinette, but was in daily attendance upon
her. His services were only required on gala-days
and special occasions. The daily coiffeur of the
Dauphine was Leonard's brother, who was beheaded
during the Terror, and consequently could not have
written the " Souvenirs," which were compiled at a
much later period. Other dates tend to prove that
the whole story of Rose's introduction to the Dauphine
by Leonard, who at that moment had absolutely no
influence at the Court of Versailles, he having been

A FAMOUS MILLINER 23

appointed only in 1779, is devoid of all ti^uth. These
" Souvenirs " contain numerous anecdotes and in-
sinuations and allusions to the part played by Marie-
Antoinette in various affairs. Rose Bertin is often
mixed u]^ with these affairs — as, for instance, that
of the masked ball, where, at the suggestion of the
Comte d'Artois, the Dauphine was present. Accord-
ing to the author of the " Souvenirs," Leonard was
ordered to arrange this nocturnal expedition and to
provide the costumes.

" I want to go to a masked ball," said Marie-
Antoinette ; " Leonard will help us. He will arrange
with Mile. Bertin about the costume, and we will
dress at the Tuileries. We will leave here at mid-
night accompanied by the little Marquise de Langeac,
and be at the Tuileries at twelve thirty-five. Rose
Bertin will be waiting for us at the Pavilion de Flore ;
at one thirty we shall be at the ball, and leave at three
o'clock ; and before the clocks strike four we shall
be asleep in our beds at Versailles."

" I arranged the costume of the Dauphine," adds
the so-called Leonard, " together with Mile. Rose
Bertin. The Dauphine went disguised as a Swiss
peasant woman. When the costume was finished and
the disguise, we left in two carriages — the Dauphine,
the Prince, and the Marquise, in one, and Leonard
and Rose in another. I do not know whether during
our ride from the Tuileries to the house of Dauberval
Mme. de Langeac had noticed what degree of intimacy
existed between Mile. Rose and myself, but when

24 ROSE BERTIN

we arrived the malicious little gipsy (the Comtesse
was disguised as such) pinched me cruelly, and
whispered into my ear : ' I like the intrigues o^ a
masked ball very much, but never in the capacity
of a passive spectator.' "

There is no doubt a great deal of fatuity in all
that the author of the "Souvenirs" relates; but
the enemies of Marie- Antoinette did not hesitate
afterwards to make use of them, and in their
pamphlets introduced, without distinction of rank or
sex, all those who were constantly in the entourage
of the Queen, so as to give a greater semblance o£
truth to their accusations.

Indeed, Rose Bertin did not require the recom-
mendations of Leonard to get on at Court. Were
not the Duchesse de Chartres and the Princesse de
Conti her patronesses ? And in 1773 the little
milliner made use of her influence on her relatives
who had been imprisoned in the Bastille.

The relatives of Rose were booksellers established
in the Rue de la Juiverie. In March, 1772, a per-
quisition had already been made in the shop in conse-
quence of the publication of certain pamphlets directed
against the '' Parlements," and especially of a
satirical work in which the Chancellor Maupeou was
being attacked and criticized. And now the widow
M^quignon, a relative of Rose's, was arrested on
June 19, 1772, " and at once led away to be confined
in the Bastille."*

* "Journal de Hardy," MS. 6681, in the Bibliotheque
Nationale.

A FAMOUS MILLINER 25

Eose made use of her influence at Court, and did
her best to deliver the widow M^quignon and her
son. She spared neither time nor trouble, and at
last succeeded in interesting the Dauphine herself
in the matter. On September 4, 1773, the two
prisoners left the Bastille. Their freedom had been
obtained not without some difficulty, for Mai^ie-
Antoinette had to do with Maupeou, who as a rule
did not like to relincjuish the prey he had got hold
of. The widow Mequignon, although set free, was,
however, not discharged, but sentenced, on January 22,
1774, to be exiled for five years from Paris. But
Rose Bertin was tenacious, and therefore her protec-
tresses, above all the Dauphine, opposed the Chan-
cellor's decision. The " Journal de Hardy " gives some
details with regard to this affair, adding that, thanks
to the insistence of Rose Bertin, the Dauphine at
last made Maupeou revoke the sentence against the
widow M(^quignon on February 21, 1774. Marie-
Antoinette even expressed the wish to see that
widow Mequignon on whose behalf she had so
graciousl}^ intervened. On February 24, therefore,
the lady had the honour of dining with the
Dauphine, ** who expressed her great satisfaction at
having rendered such service to the res2')ectable
widow, and thus saved her and her family from the
consequences of a severe sentence." This opinion on
the character of the widow, expressed by her colleague
the bookseller Hardy, whose veracity is above sus-
picion, only tends to justify the steps taken by the

26 ROSE BERTIN

milliner and the initiative of Marie-Antoinette.
Maupeou and the Archbishop of Paris were both
annoyed at the turn the matter had taken, and only
reluctantly disarmed. Some time afterwards, there-
fore, the Archbishop of Paris, who never missed an
opportunity of showing his antagonism towards the
Jansenists, no matter to what sex or condition they
belonged, accused the widow M^quignon of Jansenism.
The magistrates, however, found it impossible to
justify the accusations of the prelate.

Thus ended this matter, the result of which was a
triumph of Rose Bertin.

But the widow Mdquignon also derived consider-
able benefit from her temporary arrest, for she
remained Court bookseller until the Revolution,
and it was from her that Mme. de Tourzel bought
the books required for the royal Princes, as is
testified by the accounts of 1790-1792, kept at the
Archives Rationales.

During all this time the workshops of Rose Bertin
were producing bonnets a la Chartres — a creation
expressing Rose's gratitude for her benefactress —
bonnets a la Sultane^ au Tresor 7'oyal^ il la Car-
melite^ and were trimming dresses d la Musulmane.
The prices of the bonnets a la Chartres varied from
7 to 14 livres, whilst the others amounted to about
30 livres. The trimmings of a robe a la Musulmane
cost 136 livres. Ever since Rose had been appointed
to furnish the bonnets and dresses of Marie- An-
toinette her reputation had been rapidly increasing,

MARIE-ANTOINETTE

To face r>igc 2(

A FAMOUS MILLINER 27

and she had been obliged to augment the number
of her employees. But her real importance only
dates from May, 1774, when Louis XVI. succeeded
Louis XY. The first thing Rose did was to change
the inscription on her signboard, and replace her
Christian name by that of her family. At Court
she was still known as Mile. Rose, but in town her
dignity of Milliner of the Queen required it that she
should call herself Mile. Bertin. Her success was
great. The best families of the aristocracy were
among her customers, such as the Marquise de
Bouill^, the Coratesse de Duras, the Duchesse de la
Vauguyon, the Princesse de Gudm6ne, etc.

The budget of the dress department of the
Dauphine amounted in 1773 to 120,000 livres, and
the expenses were regulated by the Duchesse de
Cosse : 32,000 were spent on ordinary dresses,
whilst 82,000 covered the extraordinary expenses.
In 1774 the figures were the same, but they were
soon to increase.

The winter of 1774 was approaching its end, when
a new fashion of hairdress made its appearance, and
was baptized the Ques aco. " It consisted of a
panache in plumes, which the elegant ladies wore
at the back of their heads." The name Ques aco
is supposed to have been taken from a memoire by
Beaumarchais, directed against a certain Marin,
whom the author had ridiculized. The mdinoire of
Beaumarchais had an enormous success, and the
expression of Ques aco became very popular.

28 ROSE BERTIN

Marie-Antoinette had taken an interest in this
event, the name of Beaumarchais beins^ mentioned at
Court very often, and she had asked for an explana-
tion of the Provenc^al expression. When she under-
stood it, she frequently happened to make use of it.
Among her intimates, Rose Bertin, who was always
((u eourant of big and little events, always in search
of new ideas and new creations, and names by which
to })aptize the latter, was quick enough to make use
of the incident, and soon imagined a new hairdress
known as the Ques aco. Generally speaking, every-
thing relating to fashion is of ephemeral character,
but the headgears of those days were prodigiously so.
A month after the introduction of the Ques aco a
new invention took its place ; it was the famous
pouf aux sentimeiits. " The poiif aux sentiments j^'
writes the continuator of Bachaumont on April 26,
1774, "is a new hairdress which has succeeded the
Ques aco, and is infinitely superior to the former, on
account of the numerous things which were required
for its composition, and the genius employed to vary
it artistically. It is called pouf on account of the
numerous objects which it can contain, and aux sen-
timents because these objects must have a certain
relation to what one loves best, and express one's
preferences. Every woman is madl}^ anxious to
have ^ pouf J'

Leonard Antid is supposed to have excelled in the
art of placing poufs of gauze, which were introduced
between the locks, and one day he employed for that

A FAMOUS MILLINER 29

purpose about 14 yards of gauze for one hairdresg. But
all these powy-s- differed greatly from the pouf aux senti-
ments owing to their simplicity ; they also required
no assistance from the milliner. The poiif aux senti-
ments could contain such various objects as fruit,
flowers, vegetables, stuffed birds, dolls, and many
other things giving expression to the tastes, the
preferences, and the sentiments, of the wearer.

The continuator of the memoires of Bachaumont has
left us a description of a pouf aux sentim.ents worn by
the Duchesse de Chartres : " In the background was
the image of a woman carrying an infant in arms ;
it referred to the Due de Valois and his nurse. To
the right was a parrot picking a cherry ; the parrot
was the Duchess's pet bird. To the left was a little
nigger — the image of him whom she loved very much.
All this was ornamented with locks from the hair of
the Due de Chartres, the husband, the Due de
Penthievre, the father, and the Due d' Orleans, the
father-in-law, of the lady."

This craze in hairdress, with its accumulation of
family relics and souvenirs, may have been touching,
but strikes one as rather ridiculous, more ridiculous
than the landscapes in hair Avhich enjoyed a certain
voo'ue durinii' the first half of the nineteenth century,
and in the composition of which Frederic Sauvage
greatly excelled.

Another famous pouf was that of the Duchesse
de Lauzun.^' The Duchesse one day appeared at a

* Cf. Comte.sse d'Adhcmar (Lamothe-Langon), *' Souvenirs
sur Marie-Antoinette,'' t. ii., Paris, 1836.

30 ROSE BERTIN

reception of the Marquise du DeflPant's wearing a
most delicious pou/. It contained a stormy sea, ducks
swimming near the shore, someone on the point of
shooting one of them ; on the top of the head there
was a mill, the miller's wife being made love to by
an abbsj whilst near the ear the miller could be seen
leading a donkey.

It was also in consequence of one of these poufs
that a stormy scene took place one day between Mile.
Rose Bertin and the famous Mile. Quinault, who
occupied an apartment in the Louvre, just underneath
that of Sedaine, and where she had received the most
distinguished people of the century.

Everybody was talking of the poufs created by the
firm of Bertin, and Mile. Quinault also wished to
have one made in the famous workshop. She there-
fore simply sent her maid for Mile. Bertin. The
latter, however, took no notice of the message. Then
Mile. Duport, chambermaid and favourite of Mile.
Quinault, came in her mistress's carriage, and asked
Mile. Rose how she dared to disobey the order she
had received. The milliner lost her temper, and a
quarrel ensued. The chambermaid was surprised at
the insolence of an ordinary milliner, to which Rose
replied that a milliner who had the honour of being
employed by Her Majesty the Queen was, anyhow, as
good as a former opera actress. This was too much
for the chambermaid. Mile. Quinault was married
to the Due de Nevers, and the working woman had
dared to insult a member of the highest aristocracy.

A FAMOUS MILLINER Bl

Several ladies secretly married to noblemen of the
highest rank saw themselves offended in the person
of the Duchess, and all unanimously demanded the
punishment of Mile. Berlin. The latter at first fought
bravely against her enemies ; was she not sure of the
friendship and affection of the Queen ? But the
excitement caused by the incident was so great that
Marie- Antoinette herself advised Rose to humiliate
herself and to ask Mile. Quinault's forgiveness. The
Queen's wish was law to Rose. She went straight to
the Louvre, and to the apartments of Mile. Quinault,
where she asked for Mme. Duport.

*' And what does the Bertin woman want ?" asked
the latter.

The Bertin woman ! To be called " the Bertin
woman " by a chambermaid was a terrible insult,
when ladies of the aristocracy addressed her as
Mademoiselle, and often even as Madame. But Rose
kept her temper, and simply asked to see Mile.
Quinault. " Mademoiselle is unwell, and will not be
able to see her milliner,'' was the reply; "but we
will inquire." Rose was kept waiting for nearly an
hour, and at last was admitted into the presence of
the former actress. Mile. Quinault at first took no
notice whatever of Rose Bertin, and when the latter
beiran to offer her excuses the offended Queen of the
Stao'e listened calmly, without even raising her head.
When Mile. Bertin had finished, the offended Mile.
Quinault replied : " My good woman, a creature of
your position ought to learn to be polite to her betters,

32 ROSE BERTIN

and to obey the orders of those who pay her — you
may go ! "

These words are characteristic of the eighteenth
centary. It is astonishing that, with her character,
her sense of independence, and her pride, Rose should
have remained faithful to the past when the Revolu-
tion broke out. But she was very devoted to the
Queen, and it was this devotion which prevented her
from becoming an enemy of the Monarchy.

She left the apartment of Mile. Quinault in such a
state of rage that she was ill for more than six weeks.
For more than a fortnight Paris talked of nothing
but the incident of Quinault-Bertin, and ever after-
wards Mile. Bertin was exceedingly polite to all her
customers. The death of the King put an end to the
pouf aiix sentiments.

" The mourning for the King," writes the Baroness
d'Oberkirch in her memoirs, "put an end to a very
ridiculous fashion which usurped the place of the
Ques aco. This was the jiouf aux sentiments. It was
a head-dress into which may be introduced the like-
ness o£ any person or thing for which one may feel
affection, such as a miniature of one's daughter or
mother, a picture of a canary or a dog, etc., adorned
with the hair of a father or of a beloved friend. It
was a most incredible piece of extravagance. We
were determined to follow the fashion, and the Princess
Dorothea once amused herself for an entire day by
wearing on her ear the picture of a woman holding a
bunch of keys, and which, she declared, was Mme.

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To face page Ml'

A FAMOUS MILLINER 33

Hendel. The femme de charge thought it a striking
likeness, and was almost out of her senses with pride
and joy/' This Mme. Hendel was femme de charge
of Princess Dorothea at the Castle of Montbeliard.

Thus, according to Mme. d'Oberkirch, who was
herself one of Mile. Bertin's customers, the fashion of
the pouf was extremely ridiculous, and only suitable
for a carnival. And yet, by some inexplicable aberra-
tion of good taste, this predilection for the ridiculous,
as far as fashions are concerned, may be noticed at
various epochs, and we have only to mention the
crinoline, which hid the beautiful lines of the female
body.

But there were still sensible women whom the
eccentricities of fashion did not affect. And the
Marquise de Cr^qui, who, as it appearvS, had never been
one of Rose's customers, makes fun of the importance
attached by the ladies to a new hat or a new hair-
dress. " Neither Cassar nor Epaminondas," writes
the Marquise, *'have spent so much thought upon
the arrangement of their armies or the event of a
battle, as is being spent by my contemporaries upon
a pouf, or a well-adjusted ribbon, or a bouquet.
Too much consideration is given to the inventors
of fashion, whilst real merit is being neglected. We
must be like the others, and avoid appearing peculiar
and singular — this I admit. But we may at the same
time try to be neat in our simplicity, noble in our
tastes, and modest in our fashions. For fashion is a
tyrant under whose rule only fools consent to bend."

CHAPTER II

ROSE BERTIN AND THE CHEVALIER d'eON

The young Queen's dressmaker was celebrated above
all for her creation of foufs ; but as the novelty of
the poufaux sentiments had passed, it was imperative
that a new style should be invented. Rose Bertin's
genius rose to the occasion, and hats d VIphigenie
and poufs h la circonstance (topical toques) made their
appearance. The first style was well adapted to
current events. The Court was in mourning for the
King, and, according to the " Correspondance Secrete,"
hats a riphiginie were made of a simple crown of black
flowers, surmounted by a crescent of Diana, with a
short veil falling at the back, partially covering the
head.

Gluck's tragedy " Iphig^nie en Aulide " was pre-
sented in Paris for the first time on April 19, 1774,
and was the occasion of a great outcry which Marie-
Antoinette was instrumental in appeasing, and in
assuring the success of her favourite composer. The
triumph of Gluck's opera was flattering to her claims
as a musical critic.

ROSE AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 35

The pouf a la circonstance was a flattering tribute to
the new monarch. It was intended to represent the
change of reign. Mile. Bertin possessed all the qualities
that make for success ; she brought to the profit of her
trade the obsequiousness of the most assiduous courtier.
The pouf was composed of a tall cypress ornamented
with black marigolds, the roots being represented by
a piece of crape ; on the right side a large sheaf of
wheat was placed, leaning against a cornucopia from
which peeped out an abundance of grapes, melons,
figs, and other fruit, beautifully imitated ; white
feathers were mixed with the fi^uit. The hat was a
riddle ; the answer was as follows : While weeping
the dead monarch, though the roots of sorrow reach
to the hearts of his subjects, yet the riches of the new
reign are already looming in view.

These poufs varied in style : some represented the
sun rising over a wheat-field, where Hope was reaper,
being the same riddle more briefly depicted. The
pouf a la circonstance was short-lived, being quickly
replaced by the pouf a V inoculation^ another of Mile.
Bertin's inventions. The King had been vaccinated
on June 18, 1774. The custom of inoculation in use
for centuries among the peoples in the vicinity of the
Caspian Sea had been imported into England from
Constantinople in 1738, and into France in 1755.
The operation on the King gave Mile. Bertin a new
idea ; the pfoiif a Vinoculation celebrated the occasion.
It represented a rising sun, and an olive-tree laden
with fi'uit, round which a serpent was twisted, hold-

36 ROSE BERTIN

ing a flower-wreathed club. The classical serpent of
^sculapius represented medicine, and the club was
the force which could overcome disease. The rising
sun was the young King himself, great-grandson of
the Hoi-Soleil, to whom all eyes were turned. The
olive-tree was the symbol of peace, and also of the
tender affection with which all were penetrated at
the news of the happy success of the operation
which the King and the Royal Family had under-
gone.

As one may see, pastoral simplicity was not yet
gaining adherents. The Royal Family went to Marly
after their vaccination. In her memoirs, Mme. Campan
states that it was then that Rose was presented
to the Queen. In this she is at variance with
the spurious *' Souvenirs '' of Leonard, and with the
memoirs of the period from which the author of
the " Souvenirs " borrowed his anecdotes. But Mme.
Campan's criticism of the milliner's admission to the
intimacy of the Queen is interesting :

" It was during this first visit to Marly that the
Duchesse de Chartres, afterwards Duchesse d'Orl^ans,
introduced Mile. Bertin to the Queen. Mile. Bertin
was a milliner who had become famous at this
period because of the transformation she had effected
in French fashions.

** One may say that the admission of a dressmaker
into the Queen's apartments had disastrous conse-
quences. The admission of a person of her social
class was contrary to all usage, and by her persuasive

. AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 37

tongue it became possible for her to induce the
Queen to adopt some new style daily. Up to that
time the Queen's taste in dress had been very
simple, but thenceforward dress became her chief
occupation, in which she was naturally imitated by
all women.

*' Each one immediately wished to wear the same
things as the Queen, her feathers, her garlands of
flowers, which charmingly became her beauty, then
in all its splendour. The expenses of young women
greatly increased, and mothers and husbands grum-
bled ; some flighty individuals contracted debts, and
deplorable family scenes ensued, several couples
quarrelled or sulked, and it was generally rumoured
that the Queen would ruin all the French ladies. . . .
Innumerable caricatures of the fashions exhibited
everywhere, and in which the Queen's portrait might
be maliciously traced, were useless ; the fashion
changed, as it always does, only through the influence
of time and fickleness.

*' The admission of Mile. Bertin to the Queen's
apartments caused a small revolution in the palace,
the Ladies-in-Waiting opposmg it as far as they dared.
When the Queen's hair was dressed," continues Mme.
Cam pan, " she bowed to these ladies, and retired into
her room accompanied only by her personal atten-
dants. Mile. Bertin awaited her in an adjoining
room, as she was not allowed to enter the Queen's
own apartment."

The Queen's ladies, jealous of their prerogative,

38 ROSE BERTIN

complained bitterly, and when one day during the
course of 1774 Louis XYI. said to the Queen, " You
like flowers ; well, I have a bouquet to present to
you — it is Trianon," her one wish was to take refuge
there, in order to escape all the ceremonious regula-
tions which were an annoyance to her. " She wished
to be dressed by Mile. Bertin in her own room, and
not be condemned to take refuge in an inner cabinet,
because her ladies refused to allow Mile. Bertin to
enter the rooms under their charge."

But the chief Lady-in- Waiting had to bow to the
royal will, and endeavour to be as cordial as possible
to the favourite milliner. The post of chief lady
had been held by the Duchesse de Villars from Marie-
Antoinette's arrival in France, in 1770, until Sep-
tember 15, 1771. After her death she was replaced
by the Duchesse de Coss6 until June, 1775, who was
followed by the Princesse de Chimay. The latter
only held the position until September of the same
year, being then replaced by Mme. de Mailly, who
in her turn was replaced by the Comtesse d'Ossun in
1781.

" The business of the chief Lady-in -Waiting was to
see that the Queen was suitably dressed, and had all
the dresses and clothes she required. She also paid
the bills, an allowance o£ 100,000 francs being
made for this purpose, which was supplemented
when any extraordinary expenses were necessary,
which frequently haj^pened.

'' Mme. Campan, who has given a detailed account

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 39

of all these private matters, says that this lady used
to sell dresses, muffs, laces, and cast-off finery, for her
own profit, and the gain was very considerable.

" This lady," says Mme. Campan, ** had at her
orders a head lady's-maid to fold and iron the
different articles of dress, two valets of the wardrobe,
and a page of the wardrobe. The latter' s duty was
to take to the Queen's room baskets covered with
green cloth, containing all the clothes the Queen
would require for the day. He gave the head lady's-
maid a book containing patterns of dresses, state
robes, simple dresses, etc., with a little piece of trim-
ming of each. The lady's-maid gave the book and
pincushion to the Queen, when the latter awoke.
The Queen then marked with pins the patterns of the
dresses she wished to wear."

One of these books of patterns is extant, and can
be seen in the Archives Nationales ; it is for the year
1782.

"When the Queen's toilette was completed, the
valets and pages came in and took away all the
superfluous articles to the wardrobe, where they were
re-folded, hung up, and cleaned with such care that
even the older dresses had all the brilliance of the
new ones.

" Three rooms lined with cupboards, some with
shelves, some to hang garments, were set aside for the
Queen's wardrobe ; large tables in these rooms served
to lay the dresses on to be folded.

" The Queen usually had for winter twelve state

40 EOSE BEEXm

dresses, twelve simple dresses, and twelve rich dresses
on panniers, which she used for card-parties or in-
timate supper-parties.

^' Summer and spring toilettes served for autumn
wear also. All these toilettes were remodelled at the
end of each season, unless Her Majesty desired to
keep some as they were. No mention is made of
muslin and cotton, or other dresses of that kind ;
these had only recently come into fashion, and they
were not renewed each season, but were made to
serve for several years."*

In the French Court everything was done accord-
ing to tradition : *' a certain stuflP was worn in winter,
another kind in summer. Fashion was carried to the
extent of fixing certain colours for certain seasons, such
as gold for frosty days, and silver for the dog-days.
Anyone appearing in the gallery at Versailles attired
in an unseasonable manner was looked upon as a
person of bad style unused to the ways of society.^f

Was Mile. Bertin presented to Marie- Antoinette
whilst she was Dauphine, or not until 1774, after
the death of Louis XV. ? It would seem at first that
Mme. Campan, whose duties gave her the opportunity
of learning the details of the Queen*s daily life, is
probably in the right ; at the same time we must
remember that Mile. Bertin may very well have been
presented to Marie- Antoinette while she was yet
Dauphine without being granted easy access to her

* Comtesse d Adhemar, " Souvenirs sur Marie- Antoinette."
t Rassel d'Epinal, " Le Chateau des Tuileries."

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 41

apartments. In any case it is certain that from the
year 1774 Rose Bertin came regularly twice a week
to show her creations to the Queen. She continued
to do so without interruption until after October 6,
with the exception of the first month following on
the death of the Empress Maria- Theresa.

This took up a great deal of Rose's time ; she
therefore informed her clients that she was to be seen
at her own residence on certain appointed days, but
would be no longer able to go to her clients' houses.
Her manner of announcing this was perhaps rather
tactless ; she displayed, probably, some haughtiness,
which exasperated all the fine ladies of Paris j in fact,
if her shop was not instantly deserted, it was merely
because it was considered good style to patronize the
same milliner as the Queen.

Although Rose had succeeded in pleasing Marie-
Antoinette, the Duchesse de Chartres, and the Princesse
de Conti, her manners were not to the taste of many of
the ladies with whom she had dealings. The follow-
ing is a criticism of her given in the Baroness d'Ober-
kirch's memoirs :

"' The jargon of mademoiselle was exceedingly
amusing ; it was a singular mixture of haughtiness and
cringing humility, and came very near impertinence
if one did not hold her at arm's length, and degener-
ated into insolence when one did not nail her to
her place."

The Queen being the first to wear the pouf d
IHyioculation^ all the ladies of the Court immediately

42 EOSE BERTIN

followed suit. Mile. Bertin was no longer able to
cope with the work alone, and employed thirty work-
girls, but each piece of headgear cost 10 louis, which
was a pretty good price.

This eagerness to seize any topical event for a new
creation was a special characteristic of the great
milliner's genius, a characteristic which was mimicked
by all her competitors of both sexes, amongst whom
the celebrated Beaulard must be placed in the first
rank. It was with great justice that a journal en-
titled the Cabinet des Modes could say in 1786 :
*' Fashion, that has been called by her detractors
' light, fickle, flighty, and frivolous,' has, however,
fixed principles. We see her constant in seizing and
appropriating to herself every event of interest, con-
signing it to her annals, rendering it immortal in
history. What great event, what signal deed of our
warriors, or even of our magistrates, has she not
published ? If the D'Estaings and D'Orvilliers have
conquered, did she not advertise their victory ? Did
she not decree that ladies should wear on their heads
tributes to these deeds, so that, entering thus by the
extremity of their bodies, these deeds should be
engraved on their hearts? Did she not announce to
the whole of Europe the success of Figaro? Under
how many shapes did she not reproduce Janot ? Did
not even Cagliostro, more famous by his lawsuit than
by his lying immortality, find that fashion had made
his existence known from one hemisphere to the
other ? . . . We flatter ourselves that our assertion

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 43

that the Cabinet des Modes may be of use even to
historians will not be denied."

The editor of this journal was in the right in sing-
ing the praises of fashion, which is not often ap-
preciated in this way. The following lines written
by Meister in his '' Correspond ance Litteraire " for
November, 1774, are a proof: '^ If ever a book of
morals is written for our young Parisian ladies, I beg
the author to attack fiercely the extravagant head-
dresses, and above all the bad taste of Beaulard,
inventor of all these absurdities.

" This man racks his brains to represent on the
heads of young women all the most important events
recorded in the newspapers. One may see a bonnet
portraying the opening of Parliament, another the
Battle of Ivry and Henry IV., another an English
garden — in fact, all historical events, ancient and
modern. It so happens that head-dresses are no
longer in keeping with the costumes of the day, and
so more picturesque ones are being invented, and
presently women will unconsciously find themselves
dressing so theatrically that for ball dresses, which
must differ from ordinary dress, there will be nothing
left but nightcaps and bed-gowns."

These censures, however, did not interfere with
Beaulard, nor with Mile. Bertin, to whom they could
be well applied, as she was capable of just such
extravagant inventions.

Mile. Bertin did not look with pleasure upon the
fame of her rival Beaulard. She came to the Queen

44 ROSE BERTIN

one day, and complained, with tears in her eyes, of the
favour shown him by certain great ladies. She had
cause to be alarmed at his success ; he was a man of
great imagination, and during the days of the poufs
auoc sentiments invented some very original ones,
capable of rivalling the confections of the Rue Saint-
Honor6. His fame was considerably increased by
his invention of a curious bonnet called d la bonne
maman — granny bonnets.

The Comtesse d'Adhemar, in her " Souvenirs sur
Marie- Antoinette," relates the following anecdote of
Beaulard : *' A foreigner came to him. ' Monsieur,'
she said, ' I wish you to invent a stylish hat for me.
I am English, the widow of an Admiral ; I need say
no more, your taste will do the rest.'

" The skilful milliner set to work after some
meditation, and two days later he brought the
haughty islander a bonnet that was truly divine.
Billowy gauze represented a rough sea, and by means
of ribbon and ornaments he had managed to portray
a fleet carrying a mourning flag in sign of the widow-
hood of the lady. When she appeared with this
marvellous work of art, just cries of admiration were
heard on all sides ; but Beaulard's vogue was brought
to its zenith by his creation of the bonnet a la bonne
maman,

" To appreciate it, one must know that grand-
mothers, in fact all the old Court, disapproved of the
height of the modern head - dress. Consequently
bonnets a la bonne maman were raised to a fashion-

Muscc Cariw.valtl

FASHION IN irro

Buniict called F.c Lever ile la R'ilm

To face page 44

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 45

able height by means of a spring, and lowered when
a bad-tempered grandmamma appeared on the scene.
All young women wished for one, and Mile. Bertin
never pardoned any of her clients for their temporary
infidelity to her, caused by the rage for Beaulard's
confections."

All these frivolities and various anecdotes that
were spread abroad did harm to Marie- Antoinette,
who was exposed to the most virulent criticism. In
the first place, as Soulavie tells us : *' The lady aunts
who could not resign themselves to adopting these
extravagant fashions, nor to model themselves daily
on the Queen, called her feathers the trappings of a
horse."* But this was just a saying; the Abb^
Baudeau, in his " Chronique Secrete de Paris sous
Louis XVL," describes the state of things better.
** The Queen is shot at with bullets of fire," he writes
under date July 11, 1774 ; " there is no horror that
is not told of her, and the most contradictory stories
are believed by certain persons."

It would have been strange indeed if Rose had
escaped malicious tales, which were the current coin
of wit during that perverse, fickle, and depraved
century. We are therefore not surprised to read in
Soulavie's book these lines, " They accused her
[Marie- Antoinette] of secret intrigues with Mile.
Bertin, dressmaker of the capital, and with the Misses
Guimard, Renaud and Gentil," without counting the

* "Memoires Historiques et PoHtiques du Regne de
Louis XVL,'' t. ii., Paris, an x.

46 ROSE BERTIN

others, of course. A joke, a mark of interest, a smile,
a word of the Queen, sufficed to fire the imagination
of the pamphleteers in the pay of Mme. Adelaide in
particular, to conceive the most incredible tales.

Rose Bertin, whose art, as we have seen, was not to
the taste of the lady aunts, did not escape the arrows
of the ungallant scribblers whose pens were hired by
the anti- Austrian clique, at whose head the aunts
had placed themselves. All the same, Mme. Adelaide's
ladies — amongst others Mme. de Beon — were Mile.
Bertin's clients.

It must be admitted, however, in excuse of her
critics, that Marie - Antoinette gave a handle to
criticism by her irresponsible and reprehensible con-
duct, and above all by her extravagance. In October,
1774, her allowance was raised from 96,000 to
200,000 livres, and it was not long before this was
insufficient for her expensive tastes.

The tales spread abroad about the milliner did not
injure her trade, and it was still considered good style
to patronize her establishment.

Comte Auguste de la March, Prince d'Arenberg,
having married Mile, de Cernay on November 23,
1774, the latter ordered a Mohammedan dress in the
following month, and shortly after a costume a la
Henri IV. At the same period Rose Bertin executed
orders for Princesse de Stolberg at Brussels.

The winter of 1774-75 was exceedingly brilliant ;
the Queen gave various balls, which was good for
trade. The balls of December 6 and January 9 were

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 47

particularly successful. On the latter date there
were quadrilles of masks dressed in the Norwegian
and Lapland costume. The Queen set the example,
the nobles followed, and brilliant reunions were given.
Mercy- Argenteau wrote on the subject to the Empress
Maria- Theresa on February 20, 1775 : *' Comtesse de
Brionne having given a private ball at her residence
at Versailles, after midnight, the Queen, Monsieur, and
the Comte and Comtesse d'Artois, wished to honour
the reunion with their presence, and presented them-
selves without advising the Comtesse de Brionne."

Four quadrilles were given in their honour : the
first in old French costumes ; the second represented
mountebanks ; the third, which was the Queen's, was
given in Tyrolean costume, and the fourth in Indian.
The masquerade was so successful that the Queen
desired it to be repeated the following week at a ball
which was given at Versailles on January 23, in the
little theatre.

To the era of eccentric poufs succeeded that o£
gigantic feathers, which began in 1775. The " Corre-
spondance Secrete " says on January 9 of that year :
" The Queen has invented for her sleigh drives a
headgear which combines well with the Ques aco^ but
which brings into fashion a feminine head-dress of
a prodigious height. These head-dresses represent
high mountains, flowery meadows, silvery streams,
forests, or an English garden. An immense crest
of feathers supports the edifice at the back. These
crests, which are renewed daily, called the King's

48 ROSE BERTIN

attention the other day ; and to show the Queen, as
gallantly as possible, that they displeased him, he
presented her with a diamond aigrette, saying : * I
beg you will limit yourself to this ornament, even
of which your charms have no need. This present
should please you the more that it has not increased
my expenditure, since it is composed of diamonds
I possessed when I was Dauphin.' After this inci-
dent our women will no doubt modify their dress.
We are compelled, however, to admit that these
huge and costly head-dresses have greatly increased
our commercial profits. Fashion becomes an indus-
trial empire too profitable for France not to applaud
it. A woman's dress is in this country a political
question, because of its influence on commerce and
manufactures."

These economic conclusions are interesting. We
see how fashion, in which Rose Bertin played a far
more important part than the Queen, had at the same
time a happy and a disastrous effect. Commerce
was naturally affected by it ; some industries profited,
whilst bitter complaints were heard that others were
ruined.

'' A milliner and dressmaker admitted to the
private apartments of the Queen, to the stupefaction
of all who held by etiquette, Rose Bertin became a
historic personage. Her influence destroys our old
industries by completing the revolution commenced
by the Pompadour and Du Barry, substituting for
the solid magnificence of old fashions a light, frivolous,

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 49

and fantastic style. At one time we see the Queen,
and after her all our reigning beauties, affecting
extreme simplicity, and borrowing the light white
dresses of their lady's-maids ; now we find them
swathed in theatrical costumes, with immense crests
of feathers. They raise upon their heads a gigantic
scaffolding of gauze, flowers, and feathers, so that,
according to the caricatures of the period, a woman's
head was in the middle of her body, and society had
the appearance of an extravagant fancy ball.

" The salons laugh at Fashion, but obey it. The
workshops clamour that the Austrian is ruining the
manufactures of Lyons — our beautiful silk trade — to
enrich the lawn factories of Brabanzon and the subjects
of her brother, Joseph IL"*

These censures are exaggerated, as lawn factories
were not the monopoly of Brabanzon ; there were
many important ones in French provinces, notably in
Flanders, where there were various famous centres of
the lawn trade.

Her great success was, naturally, not calculated to
decrease the pride of the milliner of the Rue Saint-
Honor^. She loved to say, *' I have just come from
working with Her Majesty," and was perpetually
alluding to her interviews with the Queen. It is
true that Marie- Antoinette treated her with the
greatest familiarity, that her door always stood open
for her dressmaker, and that the importance she
attached to dress — at least, before the birth of her first

* Henri Martin, " Histoire de France," t. xvi., 1860.

50 ROSE BERTIN

son in 1781 — lent a certain importance to her dress-
maker. It is related that a lady of the highest rank
of the aristocracy came to her on one occasion to
inquire why a certain order had not been executed.
Mile. Bertin replied with comical majesty : '' I can-
not gratify you. In my last conference with the
Queen we decided that that fashion should not appear
until next month."

Another similar incident is also told of the Rue
Saint-Honore. One of Mile. Bertin 's permanent
clients came one day to buy a hat for a provincial
friend, who desired to have one from the celebrated
milliner's shop. The client asked to see the milliner
herself. After some delay she was ushered in, and
found Rose Bertin lying on a couch in the most
coquettish neglige. She greeted her client with a
slight inclination of the head, and, having heard her
request, rang the bell. '* Mademoiselle Addla'ide," she
said, as a young employee answered the summons,
" show madam one of last month's hats." At that
time, when hats changed from day to day for any
reason or for none, a hat a month old might be
absolutely old-fashioned, and the client, offended,
protested that she desired the very newest style ;
but with the gesture of a deputy queen, which she
humorously practised, Rose Bertin cat short her
reproaches. '* Madam," she said, '^ it is not possible.
When I last worked with Her Majesty, we decreed
that the new styles should not appear for another
week."

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 51

It is not amazing that, as a result of these tales,
which spread like wildfire round salons and boudoirs,
Rose Berlin was nicknamed the "Minister of Fashion" ;
at the same time the Ministers of the period, who
seemed to have no stable opinions, but were per-
petually changing their views, were nicknamed
'' fashion-makers." Mile. Bertin, Minister of Fashion,
was more costly than a Secretary of State.

The influence she exercised over the Queen led the
latter, from the first year of her reign, into expenses
for dress which amounted speedily to a very consider-
able sum. That year, without the King's knowledge,
she contracted debts to the incredible total of 300,000
livres. A large part of this sum, naturally, was owing
to dressmakers, milliners, feather-merchants, per-
fumers, and other j^roviders of feminine coquetries.
But o£ all these there was no one so loved, or whose
advice was more earnestly solicited, as that of little
Bertin.

Although Rose was so free and easy with her
clients, even the most aristocratic, she did not neglect
her business and the interests of her establishment.
Every month she despatched to the Northern Courts
a model dressed in the latest French style. She
traded with Spain and Portugal, and especially with
Russia ; and it was said of her that her fame was
only bounded by the boundaries of Europe.

In his '' Tableau de Paris," Mercier speaks of this
model of the Rue Saint- Honor^ in the following
amusing sketch.

52 ROSE BERTIN

" Nothing,'^ he says, " equals the gravity of a
miUiner confectioning a fouf^ and increasing a
hundredfold the value of gauzes and flowers. Every
week some new style of edifice is created in the
world of hats. The inventor becomes famous ;
women have a profound and tender respect for the
happy geniuses who vary the advantages of their
beauty and face.

" The expenses of fashion now exceed those for
the table and carriages. The unfortunate husband can
never calculate the cost of these varying fantasies,
and he requires ready resources to meet these capri-
cious calls. He would be pointed at in the streets if
he did not pay for these frivolities as punctually as
he pays the butcher and baker.

" The profound inventors in this line lay down in
Paris the laws that shall govern the universe. The
famous model — the precious mannequin attired in
the newest fashion — is despatched from Paris to
London every month, and from thence is sent to
shed its graces round the whole of Europe. It
travels to the north and to the south ; it goes
to St. Petersburg and to Constantinople ; and
all nations, humbly bowing to the taste of the
Rue Saint-Honor^, imitate the folds turned by a
French hand.

*' I met a foreigner who refused to believe in the
Poupee de la Rue Saint- Honore^ which is despatched
regularly to the north, to carry there the model of
the new head-dress, while a second edition is de-

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 53

spatched to the heart of Italy, and from thence finds
access to the seraglio. I led the unbeliever to the
famous establishment, and there he saw with his
eyes and felt with his hand, and in touching he
seemed still to doubt, it all seemed so incredible to
him."

Mercier is lacking in enthusiasm for the expenses
into which his beautiful contemporaries were led ;
many persons of more simple and of good taste
believed and said that these eccentricities were a
temporary craze which would pass, and people would
return to something more natural. It was an illu-
sion. The "Correspondance Secrete" was greatly de-
ceived when, in relating the anecdote of Louis XVI.
and the diamond aigrette, it said : " No doubt women
will modify their dress."

Nothing of the kind occurred ; on the contrary, in
the next month — February, 1775 — the same paper
admits that its prediction was incorrect :

" The head-dress of our women rises higher and
higher ; to-day a head-dress which a few months ago
was considered ridiculously high would not be
tolerated even by the bourgeoisie. Ladies of quality
wear crests of feathers two or three feet high, and the
Queen sets the example. On the 17th instant the
Archduke Maximilien honoured the Opera with his
presence, and must have been not a little astonished
to find himself in a forest of feathers."

Caricaturists had a fine field. Songs were written
ridiculing the absurd fashions and the rage for

54 ROSE BERTIN

feathers. Comte d'Adh^mar, amongst others, com-
posed the following song :

Air : " Pour la Baronne.''''

" Je prends la plume
Pour celebrer les grands plumets.
Partage fardeur qui m'allunie,
Muse, preside a mes couplets :

Je prends la plume.

" C'est a la plume
Que la France doit sa grandeur.
Henri, dont c'etait la coutume,
Criait dans le champ de Thonneur :

C'est a la plume.

'* C'est a la plume
Qu'on doit souvent tout son bonheur ;
Quand sur le feu qui nous consume
La bouche explique mal le cceur,

C'est a la plume.

" Charmantes plumes
Couvrez les fronts, troublez les coeurs,
Malgre leurs froides amertumes,
Vous regnerez sur vos censeurs,

Charmantes plumes.

" Toutes les plumes
Ramenant la fidelite ;
Amans volages que nous fumes,
L'amour quitta pour la beaute
Toutes les plumes.

" Dessus la plume,
Quoiqu'il soit doux de discourir,
II est minuit, et je presume
Qu'il est plus doux de s'etablir

Dessus la plume."

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 55

Another song, given below, is more characteristic
of the age. The author is unknown to us ; it was
sung to the tune, " Reveillez-vous, belle endormie":

" Oui, sur la tete de nos dames
Laissons les panaches flotter.
lis sont analogues aux femmes,
Elles font bien de les porter.

" La femme se peint elle-meme
Dans ce frivole ajustement ;
La plume vole, elle est Tembleme
De ce sexe trop inconstant.

" Des femmes on salt la coutume,
Vous font-elles quelque serment ?
Fiez-vous-y ; comme la plume,
Autant en emporte le vent.

" La femme aussi de haut plumage
Se pare au pays des Incas,
Mais \k les beautds sont sauvages
Et les notres ne le sont pas.

" Tandis que d'un panache, en France,
Un epoux orne sa moitie,
D'un autre, avec reconnaissance.
Par elle, il est gratifie.^'

Marie- Antoinette's intimacy with her dressmaker
was the occasion of bitter censure. An amusing
incident, which, however, justifies the critics, occurred
during the early months of 1775 : Richard, President
of the Parliament of Dijon, had a daughter, who in
her character of Canon ess was to receive a decoration,
which the Queen had promised to confer on her

56 ROSE BERTIN

herself. It was a little ceremony to which Mme.
Richard, the Canoness, attached the greatest impor-
tance. On the appointed day the Queen, having com-
pletely forgotten all about it, gave leave of absence to
Mme. d'Ossun and Mme. de Misery, who were in
attendance on her, and there was no one with her but
Mile. Bertin, who had come on business. Suddenly
the Queen remembered that Mme. Richard was
coming, and would soon arrive. What was to be
done ? Marie- Antoinette soon found a way out of
the difficulty. Mme. Richard had never put her foot
in the palace before, she probably never would again,
and the ladies of the Court were quite unknown to
her. The Queen took Rose into her room and made
her put on one of her own dresses, at the same time
teaching her the part she was to play in the cere-
mony. She had little to do ; it was merely a question
of holding a basin of water whilst the Queen placed
the ribbon and cross round the new Abbess's neck.
Needless to say, Rose's toilette was made amid great
laughter; but when the Canoness was introduced both
the Queen and her dressmaker had regained their
composure, and the little ceremony was performed
without Mme. Richard's suspicions being aroused as
to the identity of the Maid of Honour,

It was about this time that the bonnets d la revolte
made their appearance. At the beginning of May,
1775, the high price of flour had caused trouble, and
bakers' shops were pillaged in Paris on the 3rd. The
misfortunes of the people were made a pretext for a

/:.'/'/// !of h I ij V.f N< 'I i"i)fi li:

M ADKMOISKl.M': HOSP: IN MOUNING TOILETTE IN THE
( II AMPS-EIASEES^ iTsT

Til f;ifc page .''iti

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 57

new fashion. There were also hats a la laitiere, orna-
mented with ribbons and wreaths of flowers, roses and
acacias, and so on. The bonnet neglige a la reine
and the bonnet a la iJaysaiine, had great success.

On May 27, 1775, an event occurred which greatly
grieved the famous milliner. The Princesse de Conti
died in Paris at the age of eighty-one. One might
almost say that she had led Rose by the hand from
the door of the Trait Galant to the palace at
Versailles. It was a great blow to Mile. Bertin. She
thought with affection of the day when, with hands
and feet benumbed with the cold, she stood warming
herself at the flaming fire of the drawing-room in
the Conti Palace, chatting familiarly with the good
dowager, never suspecting that she was talking to
one of the most powerful Princesses in France.

There was no time, however, for grief; the whirl-
wind of life swept her onward. Orders poured into
the shop of the Rue Saint-Honore, and the consecration
of the King had been fixed for June 10, which meant
a surplus of work.

It is uncertain whether Rose did or did not follow
the Queen to Rheims. The "Souvenirs" of Leonard
state that she did ; but, as we have seen, little faith can
be put in that book. In any case, the ceremony occa-
sioned but a very short break in the extravagant
fashions, which revived again as soon as the Queen
returned to Versailles. These eccentricities evoked
the bitterest criticism, which was directed especially
against the Queen. The editor of the Cabinet

58 ROSE BEETIN

des Modes was a true prophet of the future when
he asserted that his paper would be of service to
historians, because fashion was the cancer of the age
— an age of luxury and folly, when ribbons and
chiffons were the preoccupation of the wealthy^ and
while the masses were seething with pent-up anger,
the anger of a people crushed by insolent luxury,
enraged by the brazen dissoluteness of a heedless
aristocracy, mad for pleasure, blind with pride and
self-love, unconscious of the rising tide.

And yet in her distant capital, far from rumours
and threats and from flattering courtiers, the Empress
Maria- Theresa was conscious of the dangers which
surrounded the French Queen — her clear-sightedness
penetrated the future. This remarkable and wise
woman, on receiving a portrait of her daughter
bedizened in Rose Bertin's best style, returned it by
her Ambassador, Comte Mercy - Argenteau, with the
remark : " This is not the portrait of a Queen of
France ; there is some mistake, it is the portrait of
an actress." It was a severe lesson, but surely not
undeserved. The Empress of Austria, far from
France, was more clear-sighted than her daughter
or her son-in-law, and saw the dangers ahead. She
had grasped that the late King's government had
greatly compromised the monarchy, that the least
thing would cause the cup of bitterness to overflow,
and that a Queen of France succeeding to the costly
reign of a Du Barry should by her economy, her
simplicity, and her virtues, efface and pay the heavy

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 59

debts of the courtesan, which had fallen on the
shoulders of the people instead of their King.

The lesson was of no avail ; the " Memoires Secrets,"
under the date August 19, 1775, tell us that "Her
Majesty looked upon the reproof as futile and too
severe, the result of ill-humour caused by age and
illness ; she did not think it necessary, therefore, to
modify her dress, and the courtiers allege that the
very next day the Queen was wearing a still higher
crest of feathers. Her Majesty's weakness for this
fragile ornament is such, that a young poet named
Auguste, having sent a humorous poem to the
Meixure^ criticizing feathers, it was returned to him,
as the editors feared to insert it, lest it might offend
the Queen. All stylish women naturally followed
their Sovereign's example. The feather trade, which
was unimportant formerly in France, is now very
considerable, and at one time the stock at Lyons was
temporarily exhausted."

On September 18, 1775, the Princesse de Lamballe,
one of Rose's chief clients and her protectress, was
appointed Superintendent of the Queen's Household,
which was greatly to Mile. Berlin's advantage. She
knew that the Princess would not oppose her interests,
nor check an imagination given to perpetual change,
which was profitable to her trade.

At this time people did not only trouble about
the shape and the trimmings in fashion, for the colour
of the fabrics used in making all kinds of costumes
for men as well as for women changed just as fre-

60 ROSE BERXm

quently. During the summer of 1775 the fashionable
colour was a kind of chestnut brown, which the
Queen had chosen for a dress. When the King saw
it, he exclaimed, " That is puce !" (flea-coloured).
So puce became the fashion, in the town as well as
at Court. Men and women ordered puce-coloured
clothes, and those who did not buy new cloth or
taffetas sent their old clothes to the dyers. But the
colour was not always exactly the same shade, so
they made a difference between old and young flea,
and then made subdivisions, and you could see
clothes of the colour of the flea's " back," '' head,'*
or " thigh,'' and the whole country was covered with
puce-coloured clothes, when (we may read this in the
" Memoires Secrets "), " the merchants having offered
some satins to the Queen, Her Majesty chose an ash
grey, and Monsieur exclaimed that it was the colour
of the Queen's hair. From that moment puce was
out of fashion, and valets were despatched from
Fontainebleau to Paris to procure velvet, ratteen,
and cloth, of that colour, and S6 livres the ell was
the price for some of these just before the Feast of
St. Martin ; the usual price was from 40 to 42 livres.
This anecdote, so frivolous on the surface, shows that,
if the French monarch has a steady head, in spite of
his youth, the courtiers are just as vain, thoughtless
and petty as they were under the late King."

The Queen could in the matter of fashions allow
herself certain fancies ; she did them honour. Con-
temporaries are agreed in praising her air and the

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 61

wonderful elegance with which she wore her clothes.
Horace Walpole — who had seen her at the wedding
of Mme. Clothilde of France, who married in 1775 the
future King of Sardinia, Charles Emanuel TV., then
Prince of Piedmont — wrote to his friends in England :
" One has eyes for the Queen only ! The Hebes and
Floras and Helens, and the Graces, are only street
women compared with her. Seated or standing, she
is the Statue of Beauty ; when she moves she is Grace
personified. She wore a silver brocade, flowered with
pink laurels, but few diamonds and feathers. They
say that she does not keep time when she dances —
then the fault was in the time ! Speaking of beauties,
I have seen none, or else the Queen outshone
them/'

The " Correspondance Secrete " gives us striking
details of the impudence of feminine taste in the autumn
of 1775. The hair was dressed so high that we read,
October 14 : " Women have to kneel in their carriages ;
you see their faces, as it were, in the middle of their
bodies." And November 7 : " They are talking of
substituting tufts of fur for plumes this winter.
Women will then look like Pashas ; and we believe
they will be Pashas with more than three tails, and
that they will lower their head-dresses, which really
are now worn at such an extravagant height ... I
have already told you that they decorate their heads
with imitations of all sorts of plants, and that by
studying the caps of the past year you may become
a fairly good botanist. After having exhausted the

62 ROSE BERXm

greenhouses, they went to the kitchen-garden produce,
and at last they sought models at the herbalist's.
Yesterday at Court they wore caps trimmed with
small trusses of couch-grass — a splendid imitation,
of course. You will remark, monsieur, the skilful
transition made use of to lead us to the branches
of fur which are going to be the vogue this winter."
Finally, under the date December 9, we read again
in this correspondence all about the fashionable
colours, which in the autumn had been puce, and
then the colour of the Queen's hair. Never has
fashion shown so much extravagance ; there are the
singular colours of '' stifled sighs " and caps of
^' bitter groans," etc.

Nevertheless the fashion of feathers did not entirely
go out Avith the winter of 1776, and Soulavie reports
that some were sold at 50 livres apiece. Money was
so easily earned by anything which had to do with
woman's clothes that Mercier, indignant, wrote in his
" Tableau de Paris" : '^ Tulle, gauze, and net, occupied
a hundred thousand hands ; and there were soldiers,
whole and maimed, making net and offering it for
sale themselves. Soldiers making net!"

" To-day," Metra remarks, January 20, 1776, in
his '* Correspondance Secrete ," " caps take the shape of
a pigeon, and certainly there is no woman decorated in
that fashion who does not expect to hear the com-
])liment that it is one of the doves from her car.
Feathers are beginning to fall, and this moulting
truly comes at the right time."

AND THE CHEVALIER D^EON 63

Never in France have woman exhausted so much art
to make themselves ridiculous. Hair dressers and
milliners had to keep their ingenuity perpetually
active to satisfy clients as frivolous as these with
whom they dealt. As for the Queen, with the help
of her hair dressers and Mile. Bertin, she started
most of the fashions. In 1775 she wore the first
peacock's feathers in her hair, a fashion immediately
copied by the whole Court. And here we find the
reason and excuse of her perpetual changes. While
feeding her vanity by influencing those who sur-
rounded her by coquetry, Marie- Antoinette soon tired
of a fashion which tended to become a uniform.
And Mile. Bertin had to foresee the moment when a
fashion reached that degree o£ generalization which
took away from the originality, and in consequence
called for prompt modification.

However, in spite of what Metra wrote on Januar}^
20, plumes and immense head-dresses had not gone out
of fashion. Woman still wore such scaffoldings of
hair and trimmings that they could only kneel in their
carriages. " They appeared," a contemporary tells us,
" like busy people having let fall a bracelet, which
they were always looking for among the cushions."
Besides being obliged to hold themselves in a
distorted, hampered, and inconvenient manner, they
had to leave their curtains open, in order not to
disturb the arrangement of their ribbons, which were
blown by the wind like flags.

Mme. Campan says : "If the fashion of wearing

64 ROSE BERTIN

feathers and extravagant head-dresses had been pro-
longed, it would have brought about a revolution in
architecture. The necessity of raising the doors and
ceilings of the boxes at the theatre, and above all the
roofs of carriaiJ'es, would have been felt."

The caricaturists had no need to exaggerate ; they
simply had to copy and paint their contemporaries as
they saw them. Some of the feathers which went to-
wards the making up of these immense plumes were
three feet long ; and the madness lasted several years,
but was at its height from 1776 to 1780.

A ball was given on Maundy Thursday in February,
1776, at the Palais-Royal, by the Duchessede Chartres
in honour of the Queen, who wore such a big head-
dress that some of it had to be taken down, because
she could not get into her carriage without crushing
it, and put on again when she arrived at her Palais-
Royal.

The King, a regular quiz at times, laughed at all
these exaggerations. It happened one day, in the
month of April of the same year, that the Queen,
returning from the opera, and not seeming very
pleased, the King asked her how she found it.
^* Cold," she replied. And when he insisted on being-
told what sort of a reception she had been given, and
if she had had the usual cheers, she did not answer,
the King, says Bachaumont, understanding what that
meant, said, " Apparently, madame, you did not wear
enough feathers."

That was a criticism of the skill of Mile. Bertin,

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 65

and of the continual outbidding: of her inventions.
All the husbands apparently were of the King's
opinion, and not only in Paris or in France, but
even in foreign countries, where the French fashions
were copied with energy, as is proved by a letter
from Genoa dated May 20, 1776, which relates an
incident in the sojourn of the Duchesse de Chartres,
who, as a client of Rose Bertin, increased by her
presence and example the number of her orders.
Woman in all countries of the world, having a
little of the monkey, only thinks well of herself when
she has imitated, at her best, the manners and clothes
created, as freaks, by the futile and disordered
brains of society women and professional beauties.
" Madame la Duchesse de Chai^tres," this letter says,
" at first grieved all the women here who pride
themselves on dressing as Parisians ; this Princess,
who travels under the name of Princesse de Joinville,
only appeared at first in a semi-large cap, which
made the husbands rejoice, as they are the enemies
of high head-dresses and plumes ; they represented
to their wives that they could not do better than
conform to the fashion of dressing their hair like
the first Princess of the blood royal. But when the
Princess put on her ' house of cards ' — as we
say in familiar speech — and hoisted her plumes,
great was the joy among women ; and the next day
the bankers had 50,000 livres commission for getting
feathers from France. This anecdote, so futile in
itself, proves the foreign taste for our fashions, and

66 ROSE BERTIN

that we are still the first in them, if we have fallen
from our high position in politics."

All the same, this magnificence continued to be
the pretext for attacks from scribblers, who aimed
more particularly at Marie-Antoinette, and whose
work was preparing by degrees the middle class and
the people to accept, as a deliverance, the fall of the
monarchy which had made France the first country
in the world, and was then crushing it with disastrous
childishness. However, in spite of the libels and
pamphlets which began to circulate among the people,
the Queen had kept her prestige in the eyes of the
great mass of the people. The Englishman William
Wraxall, an impartial observer, said, in fact : *' In
the summer of 1776, when I left France, Marie-
Antoinette had reached the height of her beauty and
her popularity."

Comte d'Allonville tells us in his '^ Memoires
Secret" that the Queen received only 400,000
francs for her personal expenditure, and that was
little enough with her taste for dress, and love of
play which ruined her, so that the King had often
to pay her debts from his privy purse.

It was in this year, 1776, that Louis XVL, by
an order dated February, suppressed the warden-
ships, guilds of commerce, arts, and trades. This
measure caused at first the liveliest alarm among
people interested. Different bodies and guilds printed
pamphlets in which they showed the disorder which
would follow — tailors would make carriage-wheels,

•«w «« ,^^^Jte«V^ >i« cote iicaunvojini: c)i:'i

JIt'.<i>_ Curi'OA-ch.l

CHAPEAU A LA GRENADE, 1770

Til face l-iAgQ Ci

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 67

the pork-butcher would sell candles. They had
meetings. On February 12 the Guild of Hosiery
met in the cloister of Sain t- Jacques-la- Boncherie ;
on the 15th the six merchant guilds met again.
The Advocate- General Seguier, advising the re-forma-
tion of the guilds on a new basis, said that women
belonging to certain trade guilds should be admitted
to the mastership, and of this number he mentioned
hairdressers, embroiderers, and the makers of fashions.
" This would mean," he said, "preparing an asylum
for virtue, which is often led by want to licentiousness."

The edict of February was followed by a fresh
edict in August, 1776, which re-established on a
new basis the six merchant guilds and the forty-
four corporations of arts and trades. The fashion-
makers and dealers in feathers were No. 18.

Henceforth, to carry on a trade, it was necessary
to be entered on a special register which was kept by
the Lieutenant-General of Police, and in which was
written, with family name and Christian name, the age
and domicile of the person entered. If he changed
his domicile or altered the nature of his business, he
had to be entered afresh on the register. Finally,
admission to the mastership cost 300 livres, but, once
admitted, no rights could be taken from anyone
received into the guild.

Naturally, Mile. Bertin belonged to the reconstituted
guild of fashion-makers, which was called " The Guild
of Makers and Dealers in Fashions — Feather-Dealers
and Florists of the City and Suburbs of Paris," and

68 ROSE BERTIN

from the formation of this new guild she found herself
invested with the functions of master, and placed for
a year at the head of the guild, whose acting members
were as follows :

Masters: Marie- Jeanne Bertin, Denise TEtrier.

Assistants: Marguerite Danican Philidor, woman
Fortin, Madeleine Darant, woman Robbin.

Entering into office October 1, 1776, she kept it
until October 1, 1777. The choice that the guild
made, of Rose Bertin for first master, was evident
proof of her importance and of the position she held
in Parisian trade. This first year the fees collected
for the admittance of masters rose to 10,020 livres.
They were 3,660 livres in 1777-78, and 2,580 livres
in 1778-79.

In 1776 the head-dresses and caps were just as
varied as in 1775. One of the styles was called
" The Rising of the Queen"; they also wore hats in
the style of Henri IV., which were hats with turned-
up brims trimmed after the fashion of the legendary
white plume. This had no bearing on the
present time, but was purely reminiscent. The
fashion lasted for some years with others more
ephemeral. The Queen wore one on the day when
Joseph 11. arrived in Paris, April 18, 1777. The
weather was fearful, rain and wdnd never ceased, and
the carriages in which Marie- Antoinette with her
suite crossed Paris to meet her brother were open.
" All the Henri IV. hats," writes Bachaumont, " and
the feathers were spoilt, ruined and broken. At this

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 69

the Queen laughed and was immensely amused."
Sometimes one laughs at trifles ; it was not very
witty, but it was childish.

Marie-Antoinette has left information on certain
details relating to the fashions of 1776. We find it
in a letter addressed to Maria-Theresa, June 13.
" The same rule," she wrote, " applies to the head-
dress for women of a certain age, as well as to the
dresses and jewels, except the paint, which elderly
people put on here, and the}^ are perhaps even a little
stronger in tone than those of the younger ones. For
the rest, after reaching forty - five years of age, one
wears less startling colours, and the dresses are cut
less to the figure and are not so light, and
the hair is not so curly nor the head-dress so
high."

On February 17 the Queen went with Madame and
the Princesse de Lamballe to the Com^die Fran<}aivse,
where they saw the first performance of " Oredan," a
tragedy by Fontanelle, the author of the "Life of
Aretino," and a piece called " La Vestale," the per-
formance of which was forbidden in 1768. " The
Queen was not in full dress, with no diamonds or
paint," Hardy says, "and looked in this garb quite
pleasant and middle-class." This goes to pz^ove that
Mile. Bertin could invent a style which was not
eccentric. Marie- Antoinette's taste for eleo^ance did
not detract from her influence. If this Queen had
dreamed for one moment of ruling, i£ she had had
any of the love of Catherine de Medici or Anne of

70 ROSE BERTIN

Austria for governing, she could easily have satisfied
her taste,

"The Queen is more powerful than ever, although
she seems to pay attention only to amusement and
jewels," wrote the librarian Hardy. But she did not
think much of authority. In the same way, they say,
she did not like playing cards. " If the Queen did
not like gambling, why did she play ?" answered the
Comtesse de Boigne. *' Ah, she had quite a different
passion : it was the passion of fashion. She dressed
to be in the fashion, she made debts to be in the
fashion, she played to be in the fashion, she was
intellectual to be in the fashion. To be the prettiest
woman in the fashion seemed to her very desirable ;
and this eccentricity, unworthy of a great Queen, was
the only cause of the wrongs which have been so
cruelly exaggerated."

With such a mind, one can understand the empire
which a woman like Mile. Bertin could exercise over
her.

When she was the Dauphine, Maria- Theresa wrote
to Mercy : " Inclined as she is to spending money,
she may go too far." There was then only an allow-
ance of 92,000 livres at her disposal, and she only
disposed of a quarter of this amount, the rest " being
averted by those who managed for her." But since
then the sum placed at her disposal had been con-
siderably increased, and Rose Bertin could freely
exploit this desire to be the most fashionable woman
which Mme. de Boigne speaks of, and this taste for

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 71

spending remarked upon by Maria- Theresa. In 1707
Mercy wrote : " Her Royal Majesty is not dressed to
advantage, but the fault is entirely due to her Lady
of the Bedchamber, who does not thoroughly under-
stand it, and who brings but little attention to bear
on the subject." This Lady of the Bedchamber, the
Duchesse de Villars, died September 15, 1771, and
was replaced by the Duchesse de Cosse. Everything
was changed : Rose Bertin became the regular
milliner, and the chrysalis became a butterfly very
quickly.

Rose Bertin in 1777 reckoned the Prince de Gu^m^ne
among her clients. The Prince and Princess were
far from forming an ideal household. The Princess
had an open liaison with the Due de Coigny. The
Prince on his side had another not less open, with
Mme. Dillon, for whom he felt a real passion which
ended only with his life. He endeavoured to make
himself agreeable to the beautiful Mme. Dillon, and in
order to court the mother he could think of nothing
better than to spoil her daughter by ordering from
Mile. Bertin, for New Year's Day 1777, a wonderful
doll with a complete trousseau, of which we have a
full description in Mile. Bertin's own books : "It
was a big doll with springs, with a well-made foot
and a very good wig ; a fine linen chemise and lace
cuffs ; a pair of silk stocking with puce -coloured
clocks ; a pair of pink satin shoes edged with puce
ribbon, and high heels ; a petticoat trimmed with fine
muslin embroidery ; a long and well-boned corset ;

72 ROSE BERTIN

a bodice of white taffetas quilted inside and out ; a
ball dress ; a skirt of pink taffetas, a flounce all
round of striped gauze, with chicory made of crape,
and folds of pink taffetas for the head ; a second
skirt of striped brocaded gauze, looped up, and fastened
with bows of pink and puce-coloured ribbon ; bodice
trimmings, the sleeves fastened with ribbon ; a collar
and a front of blond lace ; a gauze apron trimmed with
crape ; a Turkish cap ; a satin drapery ; foundation
of Italian gauze ; stripes of pink ribbon bordered with
black velvet ; a black heron and a plume ; a collarette
made of lace in two rows, with a little branch of roses
for a bouquet." The whole cost 300 livres. It was
a very fine doll. Alas ! some years later the Prince
was declared bankrupt. He owed money on all sides,
and the beautiful doll had not been paid for — and
never was.

On the other hand, the Princess, who was dressed
by Mile. Bertin, did not pay her debts either. The
milliner lost more than 11,000 livres by the Prince,
and more than 8,000 livres by the Princess. The
great nobles then lived grandly, spending without count-
ing, ordering and not paying, counting neither their
debts nor their expenses. So Rose lost 11,000 livres
by the Princesse de Montbazon, who was a daughter
of the Princesse de Gudm^n^, and who had married
the Prince de Rohan-Rochefort. The year 1777 began
with a brilliant affair for Mile. Bertin. The hereditary
Prince of Portugal, Joseph Francois Xavier, Prince oi
Brazil, born August 21, 1761, inarried, February, 1777,

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 73

the Princess Marie-Franqoise-Benedictine, the sister
of his mother, born July 25, 1746. On this occasion
M. de Souza, Portuguese Ambassador at the Court of
France, mentioned the name of Rose Bertin, and
obtained for her the order for the trousseau of the
Princess, which represented a supply of 400,000 livres.

By way of compensation, she became the victim of
roguery on the part of a certain Lady de Cahouet de
Villers. Victoire Wallard, wife of Pierre-Louis-Rene
Cahouet de Villers, General Treasurer of the Kino's
Household, was twenty-eight years old. A notorious
friend of Mme. Du Barry, she was " a gay and giddy
woman," who twice imitated the handwriting and
signature of the Queen at Mile. Bertin's expense. The
first time " Mme. Cahouet wrote a note to which she
placed the signature ' Marie- Antoinette.' Li this note
she asked for a supply of things for her toilette. Mile.
Bertin was deceived by it. The Queen was informed
of the use which had been made of her name : the
Lady Cahouet got off with a reprimand and a pardon.
The Queen would not allow the guilty party to suffer
any other vengeance."

Marie-Antoinette, naturally, in forgiving the un-
fortunate woman who had used her name, could only
indemnify the milliner, who actually lost nothing.
The imprudent forger, with true audacity, did not
stop there : ^' She wrote a second note to Mile. Bertin.
The writing and the signature of the Queen were
again copied. This new crime was not allowed to
remain secret, but they did not tell the Queen, who

74 ROSE BERTIN

would perhaps have forgiven her. M. de Maurepas,
who was informed, sent the lady to the Bastille. She
was lodged in the Comte Tower." Her incarceration
took place March 13, 1777, as well as that of her
husband, who was released August 21 ; the inquiry
showed that he had nothing to do with his wife's
swindling.

But the young woman, born for pleasure, was not
long in falling into a state of languor and decline.
?Ier husband refused to help her. For a long time he
would not allow anyone to speak to him of a woman
who had compromised him and exposed him to the
danger of losing his position. After twenty months,
her health getting worse and worse, they sent her
from the Bastille to a convent in the Faubourg Saint-
Antoine. This was the Convent of the Cross. She
entered it under the name of Mme. de Noyan. She
went from there to the Community of the Daughters
of St. Thomas, and died soon after. " That Bastille,^'
she often said, " has killed me."

It also became known that, by means of a letter in
which she imitated the signature of Marie- Antoinette,
she had cheated the treasurer of the Due d' Orleans
out of 100,000 cro\sms ] that was the jmncipal reason
of her arrest. However, feathers were still in
fashion, and caricaturists went on to their hearts'
content. The year 1777 saw the arrival of a new
fashion — the Gabrielle de Vergy cap — so called in
honour of the success of a tragedy written by de Belloy,
and played July 12, at the Comedie Fran^aise.

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 75

Inspired by tlie play, the feathers inspired authors in
their turn. A writer hitherto unknown wrote a
comedy which appeared in 1778, under the title of
" The Plumes," with the plan of founding an academy
of fashion ; it is only a satire of the deplorable
taste of the period, where, under borrowed names,
well-known milliners figured. Here are some
extracts :

" Mme. Duppefort. — The Countess of Cavecreuse
desires that you should supply her with a trimming
of the garden of the Palais- Royal with the lake, the
shape of the houses, and above all with the long
avenue and the iron gate and the caf^.

" M. Duppefort. — Really ! Someone will soon want
the Tuileries, the Luxemburg, the Boulevard ; the
market-garden women will want the Place Royale or
the Hotel Soubise.

" Mme, Duppefort. — That tail thin Marquise has
been here again ; they call her Mme. de la Braise.
It is three months since her husband died. She
wants you to put a raised platform for a coffin on her
trimming. She is no longer in quite deep mourning.
I do not know whether she wishes to express her joy
or her grief.

" M. Duppefort. — Yes, we can arrange some little
Cupids gaily round a coffin, with hymeneal or funeral
torches. There is no subject which cannot be made
bright by a little wit. . . .

"Mme. Duppefort. — Mademoiselle Dubois-Commun
has been again ; she wishes to give us some wonder-

76 ROSE BERTIN

ful ideas, which have come to her in deep meditation.
She has captivated an Englishman, who worships
astronomy, and she wishes to wear on her head the
sun, moon, and planets, the Pleiads and the Milky
Way. She would like these stars to be moving, and 5
above all, you must have several comets, some with
tails and some with manes, because her Englishman
has given her the diamonds to mount them. ... I
forgot to tell you that Mile. Fortendos has a lover
who is mad on hunting. In her desire to make
him a present, she would like to have a rich set which
would represent the Bois de Boulogne or the Bois de
Yincennes. The forest must be full of animals of all
sorts. She has enough fur to make them, and you
have only to supply the flying ones. But she wants
a whole menagerie for St. Hubert's Day, when she is
going with a large party to hunt the wild- boar."

Farther on there is a scene which is manifestly
inspired by incidents which happened at Rose
Bertin's, and of which we have already spoken :

*' DuppEFORT. — Montenlair !

" Montenlair. — Here, sir 1

" DupPEFORT. — Put into a trunk all the caps of three
weeks ago, and make a consignment for Bordeaux,
addressed to Mme. Chiffonet (Disorder). With
regard to those a fortnight old, address them
to Mile, de la Singerie (Monkey-tricks) at Lyons ;
those of last week send to Lille, Rouen, Soissons, and
to anywhere within a radius of thirty miles ; and those
three days old we will not show until the day after

BU'liothiqt"' Nat lo dale

1MU\( ESSE DE LAMBAI.LE

Til face page Ti>

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 17

to-morrow. When you have finished, go and try to get
some money from my customers. Nobody pays !"

And that was only too true. They ordered any
novelty, but the tradespeople could not get paid.
Bankruptcies were numerous in the trades which
supplied luxuries to the Parisians. People of com-
mon sense bitterly deplored this excess of petty
display. Some even feared consequences more fatal
than the mere waste of money, or even a whole series
of bankruptcies. The Author of the '* Analectes,"
whom one believes to have been the advocate of the
Cross, although he denied it, wrote in 1777 :

" We think we ought to point out the astonishing
change which our century has seen in general
manners as the effect of luxury, which makes the
thought of Horace applicable to us.* This love of
luxury which fills our towns with valets, drapers,
jewellers, goldsmiths, looking-glass-makers, perfumers,
tailors, fashion-mongers, bathing-house-keepers, wig-
makers, a whole heap of professions, the names of
which alone would fill a book, which spreads even to
the country districtvS — this crowd of mercers who carry
contagion into the rural districts is proper to the
eighteenth century, and has brouglit forth a kumrij
of imitation which seems to have become throughout
Europe, the fashion." Metternich, in a letter of
January 27, 1779, also criticized the times :

" Aetos parentum, pejor avis tulit
Nos nequiores, mox daturos
Progeniem vitiosiorem.

78 ROSE BERTIN

" When some novelty comes over the sea or from
America, be it cheap or unbecoming, everyone pays
attention to it for a moment, and forgets it at once
to take a more lively interest in an opera, to start a
new fashion . . . All this touches our Parisian
Coui't and people very closely ;" and he draws a con-
clusion that this indifference seems to him a bad sign
for the future.

That was very true. The future took care to
prove it.

Joseph 11. also criticized his sister sometimes
about her jewels. One day when he was travelling
under the name of Count of Falkenstein, and found
himself at Versailles, Marie- Antoinette appeared in a
superb and charming dress. " This stuff must have
cost much," said Joseph II. to her. " No, brother,
since families live by it," answered the Queen. " If
I only chose simple dresses, two hundred trading
houses would close their workshops to-morrow."
This might be quite true, for in those days artists
themselves collaborated with the milliners for the
good of trade, and it was in 1777 that the most
wonderful collection of fashion engravings that has
ever been published appeared. It was due to the
talent of the younger Moreau, a well-known artist,
and was quite remarkable. It was called " A Series
of Prints with Text to illustrate the French Costume."
And this work was really very important, as throwing
light on the luminous systems of Mile. Bertin and
Sieur Beaulard.

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 79

The year 1777 brought Rose Bertin an unexpected
customer — a customer whose personality equally
puzzled his contemporaries and posterity, and who was
no other than the Knight, alias the Lady, of Eon. In
consequence o£ disputes which the Chevalier d'Eon
had had in London with the French Ambassador, the
Comte de Guerchy, to whom the English Courts
had not given satisfaction, the *' Charge d'AfFaires " of
King Louis XV. had an irreconcilable enemy in the
Ambassador. When he died, his son inherited his
hatred for the Chevalier d'Eon, so that after the
death of Louis XV., when d'Eon wished to return to
France, the younger de Guerchy declared that he
would challenge him to fight to the death for having
treated his father so impudently. The Coratesse
de Guerchy was afraid ; the Chevalier d'Eon had
the reputation of being a remarkable fencer. She
went to the King and begged him to intervene to
save her from the misery she dreaded.

Louis XVI. did intervene, and, using Beaumarchais
as an intermediary, made d'Eon sign a paper by
which he undertook to wear only woman's clothes
when he returned to France, and to acknowledge
that they were the only clothes fit for him, and
which, for some reason which cannot be explained,
he had worn some years before at the Russian
Court.

D'Eon left London August 13, 1777, and arrived
at Versailles on the 17th. He still wore his uni-
form as a Captain of Dragoons. M. de Vergennes,

80 EOSE BERTIN

meeting him on the 27th of the same month, handed
him the following peremptory order :

" By Order of the Kmg.

" Charles Genevieve Louise Auguste Andre-
Thimoth(3e d'Eon de Beaumont ivS commanded to
leave off the dragoon uniform he has been accustomed
to wear, and to wear again the dress of his sex ; he
must not appear in the kingdom in any dress not
proper to women.

"(Signed) Louis.
"(Countersigned) Gravier de Vergennes."

The Knight maintained that he had not the
necessary funds to get a proper trousseau, and
Marie-Antoinette interposed — " I will undertake his
trousseau " — and immediately sent him a fan with a
sum of 24,000 livres. " Tell him," she said to the
messenger she sent with this present, " that to replace
his sword I arm him with a fan, and I make him
a lady."

D'Eon went to Rose Bertin, to whom the Queen
had sent him. He was at once on the best terms
with the famous woman, and wrote a letter to
M. de Vergennes which bears the date August 29,
1777 :

" Sir,

" In order to obey the King's orders, which
you communicated to me, as well as the Count of

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 81

Maurepas, I have put off my journey to Burgundy.
I could not possibly present myself at Versailles
with the few woman's clothes I had left. I
had to have new ones. Mile. Bertin, in the Queen's
service, will have the honour to tell you to-morrow
that she has undertaken, not only to make them
during my absence, but to make a passably modest
and obedient girl of me. As to prudence, which is
just as necessary in a girl as courage is in a Captain
of dragoons, Heaven and necessity in the manifold
habits of my life so cruelly agitated have given me
visible habits which cost me nothing. It will be a
hundred times more easy to be modest and obedient.
After Heaven, the King and his Ministers, Mile.
Bertin will have the most merit in my miraculous
conversion.

" I am, sir, with profound respect, your very
humble and obedient servant,

" The Chevalier d'Eon

for a short while still."

The Knight, as is seen, got on well with the
milliner from the first ; and it is written in the
'' Memoires Secret," under the date of September 7,
1777 : "Two dresses are being trimmed for him by
Mile. Bertin, the Queen's dressmaker, and he
has already had supper with her, once as a man and
once dressed as a woman. In woman's dress he is
very clumsy. Whatever may come of it, everything

8S ROSE BERTIN

seems to prove that his real name is the only feminine
thing about him."

The author of the forged " M^moires de Leonard,"
who spied into all the stories and memoirs of the
time, to find any anecdotes, relates the fact, altering it
to suit his purpose, and mixing his personality in it.
His want of authenticity is proved in this business ;
for the hairdresser-wigmaker who was ordered to
supply a wig " in three stories *' was not the celebrated
Leonard, but another hairdresser not so well known,
M. Brunet, who plied his trade at Yersailles, where
he lived in the Rue de la Paroisse. Anyhow, the
author of the memoirs makes the story about the
reception of the Chevalier d'Eon by the Queen's
dressmaker very amusing :

''In the last davs of August Mile. Bertin invited
me to sup with her on the morrow, warning me that
I should find another guest. I went on the following
day, and found there in fact a dragoon officer, ugly
enough in the face, but well made, and whose con-
versation, so easy and brilliant, showed him to be a
man of great merit. ... I believed that the
dragoon had asked the dressmaker for her hand,
and that she was inclined to allow herself to be led
to the altar. Several times in the scraps of con
versation while the servants were waiting at table I
asked her why the gentleman was there. Mile.
Bertin, answering my question by another, asked me
why I said that. I answered stupidly: 'Nothing.'
Then the mysterious dressmaker said : * To-morrow,

AND THE CHEVALIER FEON 83

M. Leonard, you will understand the enigma. I
shall expect you to supper/ The following day I
went to Mile. Bertin's. This time the captain of
dragoons was not the guest, but a large, fat, ugly
lady, who nevertheless was very like the officer.
So said I to myself : ' This is the mother of the future
husband.'

" ' Well, M. Leonard,' said Mile. Bertin, smiling,
' will you not tell me the reason of your pre-
occupation ?'

" ' I prevsume, mademoiselle, that you perhaps
suspect it.'

" * Doubtless ; but, my friend, for a man at Court
you know but little, if you do not know that last
Thursday the Chevalier d'Eon was presented to the
King, and I have been obliged by the King's order
to make a woman of him — at least, in his dress.
When yesterday morning, in walking through my
shop, you asked me for whom were the dresses that
my girls were trimming with so much skill, I could
have answered, '* For a captain of dragoons"; and
the lady has just put on for the first time the clothes,
of her sex.' "

There is certainly some imagination in this story,
and one inexactitude— the Chevalier had not been
presented to the King ; but it is a fact that he had
accepted the dressmaker's invitations, whose conversa-
tion he seemed to enjoy, without attaching any further
importance to the story. This man was not of
the stuff that Don Juans are made of, and he

84 ROSE BERTIN

had adventures which certainly he was the last to
seek.

But if he was satisfied with the dressmaker, he
certainly was not satisfied to be obliged to accept
her offices, and not pleased to wear feminine clothes
which Rose's girls made so hurriedly for him. *' It
is mourning that I am going to wear, and not
clothes for a feast," he wrote to the Comte de Ver-
gennes. " I will give myself up to misfortune," he
said, '' but not to ridicule."

He left Paris, and went to spend some time at
Tonnerre, where his old mother lived, and where he
arrived September 2, and stayed six weeks. During
this time Mme. Barmant boned stays for him, and
Rose Bertin superintended the making of his costume.
But as he was long in returning, she told him that
his presence was indispensable for trying on, and he
decided to return to Versailles. That was, as he
wrote in the papers which have been preserved,
October 22, 1777, that he ''put on his robe of
innocence to appear at Versailles, as he had been
ordered by the King and his Ministers " a week after
his return from Burgundy. The dress he wore was
a black dress, " a mourning robe," as he wrote to the
Comte de Vergennes, and as the editor of the English
Spy agrees : " She was dressed in black, as a widow
of the secret of Louis XV. . . . Her throat was
covered up to her chin, so that no one should remark
on it.

It was on November 23 that he appeared at

AND THE CHEVALIER D'EON 85

Versailles. He did not easily accustom himself to
the new costume, as a letter to his old Colonel,
Marquis d'Autichamp, proves : '' The loss of my
leathern breeches is o^rievous to me. Never will silk
skirt or gold or silver thread, although made by
Mile. Bertin, console me." Mile. Bertin, however, did
not remain the regular costumier of the Chevalier,
who, with rather a modest income, found it better
to employ a person with more reasonable prices,
known as Antoinette Maillot, whose address in
Rue Saint Paul, Paris, was given to him by the
wife of one of his old friends, M. Falconnet, a
lawyer.

D'Eon, who was not elegant, preferred low prices
to the reputation of the Queen's great dressmaker.
He only followed the fashions at a distance ; he was
not the person to change his dress perpetually, and
new inventions interested him but little. At the end
of 1777 the hair was dressed in the fashion called
*^ The Insurgents." " It was," says the author of the
" Memoires Secret," '* an allegory, made up of the
disturbances between England and America. The
first was a snake, so perfectly imitated that in a
committee meeting held at the house of Mme. la
Marquise de Narbonne, Lady of the Bedchamber to
Mme. Adelaide, it was decided not to adopt this
ornament, as it was likely to upset people's nerves.
The maker then decided to sell it to foreigners only,
who were anxious to obtain our novelties ; it had
been proposed to advertise it in the papers, but the

86 ROSE BERTIN

Government, prudent and circumspect, forbade it.
Crowds went to see it out of curiosity."

Caps a la Hedgehog were also made. Rose Bertin
sent one to Stockholm, to the address of Desland,
valet, and hairdresser to the Queen of Sweden. It
cost 72 livres.

CHAPTER III

MME. DU BARRY — THE PILGRIMAGE TO MGNFLIIiRES —
THE GREAT FASHION — A VERSAILLES SCANDAL

Rose Bertin continued to enjoy the Queen's confidence,
and worked in her rooms sometimes for two or three
hours at a stretch. And Marie- Antoinette's confidence
was a better advertisement for her than the dolls
dressed in the newest fashions which she sent out to
foreign cities. "Who loves me follows me, and rallies
round my white plume," remains still the best of
politics — as many women have understood. That is
why Mme. Du Barry at the end of her reign — that is to
say, during the last years of the reign of Louis XV.
— dealt with Mile. Pagelle, former employer of Rose
Bertin, and whose last papers, draw^n up by M. de
Beaujon by the King's order, ended with the figure of
23,777 livres 19s. 6d. for a period of seven months
from October 1, 1773, to May 27, 1774. That is why
Mme. Du Barry, having been dressed for some time by
Beaulard, turns to the Queen's dressmaker.

There is still in the Bibliotheque Nationale, as
well as in the Biblioth^ue de Versailles, a series
of oflicial returns drawn up by the Maison Bertin for

88 ROSE BERTIN

the favourite's account. They begin on February 4,
177(S, and go on to 1792. Mme. Du Barry was a
faithful customer.

However, although the first of the papers bears the
date February 4, 1778, it is probable that Mme.
Du Barry was dressed by Rose Bertin as soon as she
was allowed to return to Paris, Mme. Du Barry had
been exiled to Pont-aux-Dames fi:om May 10, 1774, to
March 25, 1775 ; then she withdrew to Saint- Vrain,
near Monthlery, and it was in October, 1776, that she
was permitted to return to Paris. It is then evident
that Mme. Du Barry found it well to seek the favour
of Rose Bertin, whom everyone knew to be on such
good terms with the Queen. In a note of things
supplied by Le Normand et Cie. of Paris to Mme. Du
Barry under the date of 1777 we read:

Sent to Mlle. Bertin.

Oct. 15. 16i ells of Indian material, straw-
coloured, striped with white satin ... ... 165 livres.

Oct. 16. 2 ells of Genoa velvet, sky blue, 64 livres^
1 ell of English green Italian taffetas, at
9 livres ... ... ... 9 livres,

Oct. 25. 22 ells English mauve satin, tinted^
with white and green, very strong, at
14 livres ... ... ... ... 308 livres

18 ells nut-coloured satin, English, very
strong, at 15 livres ... ... 252 livres

18 ells of blue English satin, at 14
livres ... ... 252 livres^

And farther on, on the same memorandum, we find the
following curious entry :

73 livres.

812 Hvres.

( <i.r,iii t'lhj

FASHION IN 177s

Tn f;iLO pMyu ^s

MME. DU BARRY

For Present to Mlle. Bertin.
Dec. 19. 20 ells of mauve satin at 14 livres

280 livres I ciot:: i-

} 385 livres.

14 ells of white taffetas, at 8.15 livres

105 livres.

Sent to Mlle. Bertin.
10 ells of strong white satin, at 13 livres ... 130 livres.

So Mme. Du Barry paid by little presents for the
favours of the great dressmaker. The visits she paid
to the Rue Saint-Honore made her feel young again,
taking her back to her early days, to the time when,
before she had gained the favour of a King by a life
of adventure, she was a simple employee in the firm
of a dressmaker of the period.

The bills presented by Rose Bertin to Mme. Du
Barry in the years which followed, according to the
entries which we still possess, amount to the following
sums :

Livres. s.

From February 4, 1778 to October 24, 1779 ... 11,438 9

To the end of 1779

231 5

For the year 1780

3,211 11

1781

2,386 6

1782

. 6,598 2

1783

7,840 10

1784

. 8,519 1

1785

7,756 10

1786

. 6,912 10

1787

7,011 10

1788

. 8,034 12

1789

. 5,370 4

1790

. 1,264 8

1791

2,354 16

1792

713 6

90 ROSE BERTIN

Rose Bertin did not have a bad customer in Mme.
Du Barry. We find, in fact, in a memoradum of the
things supplied by Le Normand et Cie. of Paris to
the Countess, the following entry:

Paid to Mile. Bertin, according to the acknow-
ledgment of Mme. la Comtesse, from
March 24, 1779 9,837 livres.

This goes to prove that the memorandum beginning
February 4, 1778, was not the first debt contracted by
Du Barry with the dressmaker of the Rue Saint-
Honore. At the head of the memorandum is written ;

Supplied to the Countess Du Barry by Bertin, " of the

Great Mogul."

Livres. s.

Deferred, a memorandum beginning February 4,

1778, and ending October 24, 1779— total = 11,438 9
Received on account, April 12, 1779 5,837 6

Balance due ... ... ... 5,601 3

It is very evident that the 9,837 livres paid by the
agency of Le Normand et Cie. have nothing to do
with this memorandum.

In glancing through these notes, it will not be
uninteresting to notice some of the articles which
are designated therein, and which will give us the
price-list, as it were, of the first dressmaker of the
time.

First of all we find, on October 25, 1779, a large
hat of white straw, with brim turned up on both
sides and bound with blue and white fluted ribbon

MME. DU BARRY 91

spotted with black, a large plume of black and white
feathers supplied by the Countess herself, 24 livres.
That is really not very dear ; what do our society
ladies think ?

On December 25, 1779, a large cloak of two
taffetas, white half- sarcenet, a trimming of striped
English gauze, brocaded in chenille, 42 livres.
Things had not yet become a madness.

On January 5, 1780, a large hat of white straw,
turned up with nut coloured ribbon, a bow of the
same spotted ribbon, a plume of seven fine white
feathers with fine aigrette in the middle, 120 livres.
Here the price has gone up, but the feathers and the
aigrette had to be found. It is also remarkable that
the hat was straw, and supplied in the depth of
winter. The milliner also supplied toilette accessories.
On February 2, 1780, she sent, for a " head-band,"
one ell and a half of wide pink and white spotted
satin ribbon at 3 livres for 4.10 livres, which almost
shows us Du Barry e7i deshabille.

At the same date she supplied for a sword bow two
ells and a half of wide English ribbon, mauve and
white spotted with black, at 2 livres = 5 livres.

And among details of a present made to Mme.
la Vicomtesse Du Barry are the following articles :

A very large branch of cotton lilac with three
sprays, 36 livres.

A head-dress trimmed with crape and spotted with
puce velvet, two rows of pleats of fine silk lace, high
with straight border and ribbon behind, 72 livres.

92 ROSE BERTIN

A cap trimmed with fine blond and Italian gauze,
a butterfly with large wings, long feathers, bordered
with blonde lace falling behind, and white ribbon,
48 livres.

The relatively low price asked for '' a large cloak
of black taflfetas, lined and trimmed with wide lace
on spotted tulle with straight edge," is astonish-
ing. This Avas delivered December 6, 1780, and cost
192 livres. Also English straw hats sold June 30,
1781, at 8 livres each.

But here is the description of a costume delivered
January 20, 1782, and the price of which is very much
higher, we find in the first memorandum kept in the
Bibliotheque Nationale :

" The trimming of a blue and silver dress, large
puffed pleats all down the front in Italian gauze,
edged with big ruchings of cut crape, a garland of
silver rope placed over the puffs, each separated by
bunches of golden wheat-ears, and fastenings, in cat-
kins of blue stones mixed with white pearls, placed
each side of the drapery ; the fi'ont of the petticoat
entirely covered with Italian gauze, a large flounce at
the bottom, a foundation of silver lined with plain
crape and edged with fringe, a large garland of gold
corn-ears placed over the flounce in shape of shells
tied by silver ropes, and by a double acorn of gold
and silver, the heads set in stones ; trimmed with
firinge cuffs, 900 livres.

'^ A flounce of pleated blonde, 8 livres.

MME. DU BARRY 93

*' A piece of five bands of catkins in blue stones
mixed with white pearls, 78 livres.

*' An ornament of three bows in crape, edged with
blonde lace, two doable blades of gold at the edge,
and a gold braid in the middle and embroidered with
stones and sequins.

"A flounce in the Provencal fashion, a fine blonde
very wide, on Alen^on lace with shells, a fine lining
of pleated Alenqon above, 84 livres.

'' A collar of fine blonde lace with straight edge,
and a fine plain tulle pleated underneath, 24 livres."

That was what may be called an important order.
But Du Barry also economically made use of
dresses already worn, which she had altered, and
we read in Mile. Bertin's notes : '* For mending-
two hats, flowers, and plume, furnished the straw
and white satin ribbon and velvet, 15 livres —
December 7, 1782."

Independently of anything she paid for with ready
money in the milliner's shops, some things, entered
wrongly on the bills presented to the Countess, bear
these words in the margin, " Nothing," or *' Sold "
— for example, a supply of goods for 733 livres of
August 27, 1787, was annotated in this manner,
" All these things have been sold/' and a hat of
144 livres ''sold," February 20, 1788. Independently,
we say, of these things and of former deliveries, the
account of Mme. Du Barry with Rose Bertin from
February 4, 1778, to September 12, 1792, deduction
on the account of 5,837 livres Gs. paid on April 12,

ROSE BERTIN

1779, rose to 73,605 livres 4s., as proved by the entry
of payments preserved in the Bibliotheque de Versailles.
Here is a copy of what Mme. la Comtesse Du Barry
owes to Bertin, merchant :

Livres. 3.

Memorandum up to February 26, 1782

. 13,148 9

July 19, 1784

.. 18,835 19

March 1% 1790 .

« « .

. 37,797 0

„ „ September 12, 1792

.. 3,823 16

73,605 4

Livres.

Received by M. Buffault

1,300 \

May 2, 1782

5,000

February 4, 1785, in Bochmer^s notes

17,000

December 18, 1786 ...

3,000

^33,300 livres.

February 5, 1789

3,000

May 30, 1789

3,000

May 17, 1792

1,000,

It seems that Rose Bertin was not able to clear off
her account with the celebrated Countess, and the
Revolution following, the knife of the guillotine
which took the head of her customer cost her 40,000
francs, and besides the payments mentioned above
we find no proofs of any other payments made by
Mme. Du Barry.

But it is interesting to acknowledge that we find
no trace of this credit among the papers arranged
after the death of Rose Bertin by Grangeret, the
lawyer to her heirs, whose collection of unpaid
accounts in the possession of M. J. Doucet has
been placed courteously at our disposition. It is,
then, likely that Rose Bertin in her lifetime was

^Z^^r&

MADAME DU BARRY

To face page 'J4

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 95

able to recover the balance of 40,305 livres, or that
her heirs were able to recover it, and that then the
papers concerning Mme. Du Barry were suppressed
after payment by the lawyer prosecuting.

We wished to give an idea of the expenditure
of Mme. Du Barry in the years succeeding her
splendour, after the death of Louis XV. had rung
the hour o£ her downfall. We will now take up our
subject where we left it — that is to say, in the year
1778.

The sea-victories of 1778 and 1779 caused the
head-dresses to be called Boston, Philadelphia, Grenada,
d'Estaing, and Belle-Poule. The fight in which this
ship distinguished herself under the command of
Chaudeau de la Clochetterie was on June 17. There
were Te Deums^ feasts, a most extraordinary enthu-
siasm, above all, at the taking of Grenada on July 4,
1779. The fashions changed incessantly ; that was
the feature of the eighteenth century. La Bruyere
wrote : " One fashion no sooner destroys another
fashion than it is abolished by a newer one, which in
turn gives place to one which will not be the last ;
such is our frivolity." One of the most elegant o£
the Queen's head-dresses was the one called " The
Queen." This head-dress, which did not attain the
exaggerated dimensions o£ so many others, and which
suited the figure and carriage of the Queen admirably,
has been drawn by Le Clerc, engraved by Patas for
the '* Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Fran^ais,"
drawn from nature, published in Paris, 1778, and

96 ROSE BERTIN

represented tlie Queen herself. It is composed of an
ostrich feather with an aigrette of diamonds placed on
the left side of the head, a cerise satin ribbon in the
hair, with a pearl ornament falling as a drop on the
forehead.

This same work contains also a print engraved by
Dupin after the drawing by Le Clerc, and represent-
ing a " dressmaker carrying goods to the town."
Although the garb which the picture shows us was
certainly not worn by Rose Bertin at the period of
her wealth, it will not be uninteresting, perhaps, after
having spoken of the head-dresses she designed for
her customers, to describe the costume of the work-
girls who frequented the workshops in the early
days of Louis XYL, of whom she employed about
thirty — a costume which probably did not differ much
from that which she had worn herself a few years
before, at the time she worked for Mile. Pagelle.
We will borrow the description from the " Gallerie
des Modes " :

" A large hood of black taffetas with brim turned
back, trimmed with gauze, covers her head, and hides
a part of her charms from the greedy eyes of passers-
by ; but her cloak is arranged to show her figure to
the best advantage. She is clad in a simple dress
trimmed with the same material, of which the flounce
is also made, and lifted up behind in the shape of a
polonaise. Open-work silk mittens, showing the
bracelet ; gi*een paper fan ; ' content ' in her bosom :
the little goose wants nothing." " Content " was

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 97

a little trimming after the manner of a collar which
finished off the top of the bodice. This amusing
definition gives some idea of what distinguished the
milliner in the eighteenth century. But Rose Bertin
having become celebrated was certainly not dressed in
such a modest fashion. They say that when she was at
the height of her celebrity the Comte d'Artois, after-
wards Charles X., looked with favour on the Queen's
milliner ; he is also said to have courted her slightly,
but without success. After her adventure with the
Due de Chartres, it is not astonishing that the
haughty milliner sent the Comte d'Artois back to
his stables. However, this succession of Princes of
the blood all interested in the beauty of Rose Bertin
permits us to believe that, perhaps for a kind word
spoken one day by the Prince who had easy manners,
Rose boasted more than she ought. There are so
many ways of cultivating the little flower of vanity.

In any case she was at the height of her influence
and reputation at the Court, and she was careful to
compromise neither, which were certain to satisfy the
passing fancy of the Princess, whose conquests did
not pass for virtue. She knew the value of her
credit. Speculating on the influenoe which she had
with the Queen, it often happened that people
addressed the milliner to beg her ta place the favour
desired before the Queen ; and she agreed willingly,
very happy, in reality, to be thought important.

In 1778 Marie- Antoinette, expecting her confine-
ment, ordered a kind of loose dress called " Levite."

98 ROSE BERTm

This dress in the time of Louis XV. hung in the same
way as a dressing-gown, and was cut short halfway
down the leg, and this fashion was modified to suit
the Queen's figure. The skirt was lengthened, and
a belt was formed by a draped scarf.

Rose Bertin was able to get a sensation of satis-
faction from the feeling of authority she had acquired
over the Queen. She had long and frequent con-
versations with the Queen, who gladly consulted her,
and confided in her even in matters quite foreign
to dress. Marie-Antoinette awaited her confinement
with apprehension, and told her fears to Mile. Bertin,
w^ho informed her that in the neighbourhood of Abbe-
ville was a miraculous statue of the Virgin, which
enjoyed a great reputation and attracted a great
crowd of people to the Chapel of Monflieres, that
numerous pilgrimages came from all parts to implore
her protection, and that many sick people were cured
at the foot of the altar.

'' Certain documents," wrote the Abbe Mille,
''affirm that from the year 1559 a pilgrimage went
to Monflieres on the Sunday preceding the Assump-
tion, to fulfil a vow made in consequence of the
cessation of a plague which had killed 4,000 persons
in the town of Abbeville, and 8,000 in the surround-
ing country ; this pilgrimage was conducted by a
confraternity established in honour of Notre Dame de
Monflieres under the title of the Confi^aternity of
King David's Quarter, and which continued to exist
until after the death of Louis XVL, as the last

LA GKANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 99
report of the confraternity, dated August 11, 1793,

proves."

Rose Bertin persuaded Marie - Antoinette to
recommend herself to the good Virgin of Monflieres,
and succeeded so well in convincing her that she
was charged by the Queen to go herself to carry an
offering of a robe of gold brocade to the Madonna.
This was a delightful journey for Rose, this return
to Picardy, which she had left with so much goodwill
and courage and uncertainty fifteen years ago.

The office where places could be booked for the
coach was at Huet's, Rue Saint-Denis, opposite the
Filles-Dieu. The journey to Abbeville cost 36 livres ;
the coach left every Friday at half-past eleven at
night. Rose, having retained her place in the coach,
set out from Paris. We may believe that she slept
the first hours of the journey, well protected from
the night air, and soothed to sleep by the rhythmic
sound of the horses' hoofs and the tinkling of their
harness bells. The coach left Paris by the gate of
la Chapelle, passed Saint-Denis and Luzarches, and on
summer nights reached Chantilly as the first streaks
of dawn appeared in the sky. Now and again, as the
driver stopped to change horses, the weary passengers
could get down to walk about, or repose themselves
in the guest-room of some inn, the White Horse, of
the Golden Sun, and admire the fantastic wall-paper
and hundred knick-knacks.

The fresh horses would start off at a grand trot,
and as the coach dashed through some village the

100 ROSE BERTIN

driver would crack his whip furiously, while frightened
hens ran helplessly backwards and forwards, and
small boys followed behind shouting till the coach
was lost to view^ in a cloud of dust. Then, as it
passed along the country road bordered by trees,
Rose closed her eyes : her mind went back fifteen
years, to the day when she had passed along this same
road, and a fugitive smile of pleasure played upon
her lips.

On the top of the coach the case containing the
precious dress was safely stowed away, with the rest
of the great dressmaker's luggage, who thought of
the time when, on leaving Abbeville, all her worldly
goods could be packed into a narrow cheap little
trunk and a modest cardboard box which she care-
fully held on her knees. The coach reached Clermont
at midday, where the travellers dined, and then went
on to Amiens, passing through Breteuil. At Amiens
the passengers passed the night at Berny's, Rue de
Beauvais, and the coach restarted next day for
Abbeville, passing through Picquigny and Flixecourt
in the Somme Valley. The terminus was in the Rue
Saint-Gilles, so full of souvenirs for the young
Abbevilloise, and the office being in charge of the
same Mile. Tevenart who was there when Rose left
the country.

The dress which the Queen had sent her to tit on
the Madonna at Monflieres was valued at 500 livres.
According to the manuscripts of M. SiiFait, preserved
at Abbeville, the lace was given by an Abbeville lady,

Bibliol]it</ue Nationale
MISS CONEINGUE OUT OF OPERA

To face page 100

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 101

whose name is unknown to us. The dress was used
for the first time on March 25, 1779, titular feast of
the Chapel of Monfli^res. Marie- Antoinette's prayer
had been heard : she had been happily delivered of a
daughter, on December 19, 1778. This was Madame
Royale, the future Duchess of Angouleme. Marie-
Fran^oise Bertin-Havard, arelativeof Rose's, was chosen
to superintend the wet-nurses who had been engaged.

Having accomplished her mission, Rose left Abbe-
ville, and returned in haste to Paris, where her
presence was indispensable to the interests of her
establishment. The return journey was similar to
the outward one : the coach left Saint-Gilles on Sunday
at midday, and reached Paris, Rue Saint-Denis, on
the morrow at six o'clock at night. Though the
statue of the Virgin of Monfli^res was saved from
the fary of the Revolution, being hidden away in an
oven, the dress made for it by Ml]e. Bertin, as an
offering from Marie- Antoinette, has unfortunately
disappeared, and cannot be traced.

At the close of the year 1778, lawn bonnets, called
bonnets picards^ were sold in the Rue Saint-Honor^.
Did the idea come from this journey, we wonder ?
The Comtesse de Salles ordered one on November 24,
at the moderate price of 9 livres. The gift of a
bonnet or hat bearing the mark " Grand-Mogol" was a
welcome and gracious present. Thus, on one occasion
the Marquise de Tonnerre made a present to the
Marquise de Bouzol of a white hat, turned up at the
back, lined with taffeta, edged with white and green

102 ROSE BERTIN

ribbon, and with large bows of the same, which cost
18 livres, and gave the Comtesse d'Equevilly a demi-
honnet of gauze and blonde lace, worth 36 livres.

Rose Bertin was also employed to make presen-
tation costumes, which cost a considerable sum of
money ; that of the Comtesse de Montr(^al, delivered on
May 10, 1778, amounted to 2,417 livres.

We have seen how the Queen of France listened to
the advice of the great milliner, and how her reputa-
tion and influence at the Court were great ; if further
proof of it is needed, we have but to read what
Bachaumont, in his " M^moires Secrets," has to say on
the subject, when giving an account of the journey of
the King and Queen to Paris on the occasion of the
marriage of a hundred young girls whom the King had
dowered in honour of the birth of Madame Royale.

The ceremony took place at Notre Dame, and the
cortege of twenty-eight carriages coming from la
Muette, where the Court then was, passed along the
Rue Saint-Honor^, to reach the Pont-Neuf, by the
streets du Roule, la Monnaie, and the carrefour of the
Trois- Maries. It was February 8, and great crowds
filled the streets to see the King and Queen pass ; but
there was very little applause, as the police had
omitted to station aboyeurs^ or persons to start the
cheering, as they usually did, which greatly annoyed
Marie-Antoinette, who returned to la Muette in a
very bad temper. " We have spoken on various
occasions of Mile. Bertin, the Queen's milliner," says
the "M^moires Secrets," March 5, 1779, *' who has

LA GEANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 103

the honour to work under Her Majesty's personal
direction in what concerns that part of her wardrobe.
Her shop gives on to the Rue Saint-Honor^. The day
that the Queen made her entrance, the milliner at the
head of her thirty work-girls took up her post on
her balcony. Her Majesty caught sight of her in
passing, and said , * Ah ! there is Mile. Bertin,' and
at the same time made her a sign, to which Mile,
Bertin replied by a profound curtsy. The King
rose and clapped his hands — another curtsy ; all the
Royal Family did the same, and the courtiers, aping
their masters, did not fail to bow as they passed. So
many curtsies fatigued her, but the distinction was a
marvellous comfort, and greatly increased the repu-
tation she already enjoyed."

There was a good deal of mimicry in this little
demonstration. No doubt the King himself was not
altogether sincere, being chiefly anxious to please the
Queen, and perhaps anxious to turn her thoughts
to Mile. Bertin' s art, less costly than gambling, to
which she was too much given. Nothing but frivolous
subjects appealed to the Queen's childlike brain. The
same memoirs for May 31, 1779, speak again of the
favour the dressmaker of the Rue Saint- Honor^
enjoyed. '' The Queen continues to show Mile. Bertin,
her dressmaker, special favour. At Marly lately she
ordered the Due de Duras to find her a place at the
theatre, and this nobleman acquitted himself of the
order in a way calculated to excite the jealousy of
other women."

104 ROSE BERTIN

Does not this completely prove the importance she
had acquired at Court ?

It is true that the Queen, who enjoyed acting, but
who acted very badly, had great trouble in getting
an audience, as everyone tried to find an excuse —
so much so that on one occasion she ordered the
Suiss guards to attend, and to take their place
during the play.

This unfortunate taste of the Queen's was pleasing
to her household at least, as it entailed continual
changes o£ dress, disguises, hats and head-gear, of
which everyone came in for a share.

Rose Bertin, indeed, considered herself indispen-
sable. Her shop was also always full, and the most
brilliant clientMe flocked to it. All the nobility of
France and all the members of the diplomatic service
were among her customers. The wife of the Russian
Plenipotentiary, Princess Baratinsky, among others,
dealt with her, and was one of those whose bills were
not paid. She owed about 15,000 livres, and Rose
received 1,000 on account from Prince Baratinsky.
The balance for which she held the Princess's note of
hand was lost ; according to Russian law, debts of
more than ten years' standing cannot be recovered
legally, and the bill was never paid.

On all sides customers flocked to her, and even the
name of Vestris, the famous dancer, surnamed the God
of Dance, who was still at the Opera, is to be seen in
her books. The Marquis de Boisgelin gave his niece
a Devonshire hat worth 120 livres ; the Baronne de

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 105

la House ordered a Circassian dress, usually made of
gauze. The Baronne de Montviller, daughter of Mme.
de Misery ; the Marquis de Marboeuf, whose immense
grounds of the Champs-Ely sees constituted one of
the finest estates in Paris ; Viscomtesse P^rigord, the
Marquis de Chabrillant, were to be seen in her shop,
and a long line of carriages with armorial bearings
stood at the door.

Her work at Court became more and more absorb-
ing, and at the instigation of Mme. Campan the
famous Beaulard, who for a long time had been skil-
fully manoeuvring to gain favour with the Queen and
her suite, was made her official collaborator. Beaulard,
her active and redoubtable competitor, was Rose's
nightmare, to whom nevertheless she had to be
agreeable. Rose certainly had done all she could to
get the better of this enterprising competitor, and
was very mortified that she did not succeed. Never-
theless she was sufficiently diplomatic to disguise her
displeasure from Mme. Campan, who had to be skil-
fully managed. Mme. Campan had become one of
the four first ladies of the bedchamber of the Queen.
There was no end to the ever-changing toilettes, and
the Queen and Mme. Campan really thought that
Mile. Bertin might one day find that she was unable
to cope with the orders given, and prepared in
fevered haste in the Rue Saint-Honore, and dresses
expected on a certain day would not be delivered.
Mile. Bertin knew that Beaulard was a protdg^ of
Mme. de Lamballe, ^^ and her anger was without

106 ROSE BERTIN

bounds when she heard that he had been presented
by her to the Queen. He brought Her Majesty an
artificial rose, a perfect imitation, which exhaled
a delicious perfume. The Queen was delightedly
looking at it, when Beaulard called her attention to a
spring hidden in the calyx. The Queen pressed it,
and immediately the half-blown rose opened, dis-
closing a miniature portrait of His Majesty."* The
dressmaker conceived a violent resentment towards
the Princess, whom she promptly sent to Coventrj^
the latter being greatly concerned, as she professed
to wear nothing but hats and bonnets of the best
style, and at Court the best style was Rose Bertin's.
The Queen took upon herself to effect a reconciliation ;
the matter became as important as an international
case of arbitration. After lecturing her dressmaker,
and representing that the incident had not been in
any way prejudicial to her, since she kept her title of
" dressmaker to the Queen," and that her orders had
not decreased, she succeeded in convincing Mile. Rose,
who consented to make her peace with the Princesse de
Lamballe and to renew business relations with her.

The era of eccentricities, however, was nearing
its end. Without losing her taste for dress, the
Queen modified the fashion of her toilettes. It was an
abrupt change. It has been said that as the woman
gave place to the mother her taste became more simple.
This may have been the reason for the change, of
which we find mention in Mme. Campan's memoirs.

* Comtesse d'Adhemar, " Souvenirs sur Marie- Antoinette."

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 107

'* The taste for dress to which the Queen was
addicted during the first years of the reign gave
place to a love for simplicity which she carried to an
unwise degree, the splendour and magnificence of the
throne being to a certain point inseparable in France
from the nation's interests.

" Excepting on days when great receptions were
held at Court, such as January 1 and February 2
devoted to the procession of the Order of the Holy
Ghost, and at Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, the
Queen wore nothing but print dresses or dresses of
white taffeta of Florence. She wore the simplest of
hats, and her diamonds were never taken out of their
cases save on the days I have mentioned. The Queen
was not yet twenty-five, and began to fear already
that she would be made to wear unwisely flowers and
ornaments, which at that time were left to the very
youthful.

" Mile. Bertin having brought her a wreath and
necklet of roses, the Queen tried it on, and expressed
a fear that the bloom of the rose would be trying to
her complexion. She was in truth too severe on her-
self, as her beauty had suffered no change, and one
may easily imagine the concert of praise and com-
pliments with which her fears were answered.
Approaching me, the Queen said she would rely on
my judgment as to when the time was come to
refrain from wearing flowers. ' Think of it well,'
she said ; ' I charge you from this day to warn me
frankly when flowers no longer suit me.' 'I shall do

108 ROSE BERTIN

nothing of the kind, madame,' I replied ; ' I have not
read " Gil Bias " in vain, and I find too much resem-
blance in your Majesty's order to that given to him
by the Archbishop of Toledo, to warn him when he
was deteriorating in his homilies.' ' Ah/ said the
Queen, 'you are less sincere than "Gil Bias," and I
should have been more generous than the Archbishop
of Toledo.' "

In spite of the Queen's simplicity, Rose Bertin's
visits to Versailles, to the Tuileries, to Saint-Cloud,
wherever the Court happened to be, were none the
less frequent.

It was at Versailles that was realized one day the
gipsy's prediction that Rose's train would be carried
at Court. It was realized, however, in a very comical
fashion. Rose's footman who usually accompanied
her to the palace had left, his place being filled by an
honest country fellow, recommended to her by a
friend, a certain M. Moreau Desjardins, a lace-
merchant of Chantilly, who had the man's brother in
his employ. The poor man straight from the
country was quite lost in Paris, and, on being told that
he was to accompany mademoiselle to Court, was com-
pletely overwhelmed, and felt twice as awkward as he
really was. He confided his fears to the lady's-maid,
who had other fish to fry than to offer consolation
to a provincial footman. '' But what shall I do," he
said in despair, " when I am at the palace ?" " Do
as the rest do," she replied mockingly. He did it.
There were other carriages at the palace when Mile.

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 109

Bertin's arrived. He watched the other footmen ;
great ladies got down from their carriages, he saw the
noblest ladies in France pass before him, followed by
the most elegant of footmen. When Rose's turn
arrived, she jumped lightly to the ground and began
to go up the staircase. She quickly noticed that she
was attracting a good deal of unusual attention ;
people looked at each other in amazment, and some
seemed on the verge of uncontrollable laughter, and
they were not the most impertinent. Astounded,
Rose stopped, realizing that she was being laughed at,
and, on turning round, found that her rustic footman
was carrying the train of her dress as the footmen of
Duchesses and Marchionesses had done for their
mistresses.

Smiles and laughter wounded her self-love, but at
the same time there was satisfaction in remembering
that the gipsy's prediction had come true. She saw her-
self again on a winter's day in her black dress, un-
packing the ornaments of the Demoiselles de Bourbon,
and Avarming her feet at the fireplace of the Princesse
de Conti, and then glanced at herself in the mirrors
of the great gallery of Versailles, where the most
secret apartments were open to her, and where she
could cross without delay the antechambers where
great ladies waited their turn for an audience.

It was therefore not without a certain pleasure
that a few minutes later, in the Queen's cabinet, she
told the tale of the prediction of her childhood at
Abbeville, and its realization ; the Queen laughed

no ROSE BERTIN

heartily, and on the King's entrance, having heard the
tale, he joined in the mirth. Rose could not only admire
herself in the mirrors of the great gallery, she could
also admire her handiwork in the paintings on the walls,
as, for example, when she passed before the portrait
of the Queen painted by Mme. Yigee-Lebrun in 1799,
in which the great painter had immortalized some of
the creations of the Rue Saint- Honore. This portrait
was the first of the Queen painted by the celebrated
artist ; there are two copies, as Mme. Yigee-Lebrun
tells us in her souvenirs, one of which is still at
Versailles.

''It was in the year 1799," she says, "that I first
painted the Queen's portrait. She was then in all
the splendour of her youth and beauty. ... It was
then that I painted the portrait of her with a large
basket, dressed in a satin dress, and holding a rose
in her hand. The portrait was intended for her
brother, the Emperor Joseph II., and the Queen
ordered two copies — one for the Empress of Russia,
the other for her apartments at Versailles or Fontaine-
bleau."

The Queen's head-dress is not very exaggerated,
being composed of a light puff of greenish- white silk
gauze, with ostrich feathers. The " Correspondance
Litt^raire," June, 1780, speaks of the change in fashion
and of the abandoning of the high coiffure, which
gave way to a simjDler style, a simplicity which
extended to the whole costume. Rose Bertin, how-
ever, lost nothing of her reputation, and was still

BiblioUiique So.Lioncde
POLONNOISE A LA I'OULETTE, 1779

To face page 110

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 111

in favour at Court. One summer day in 1780, when
the Court was at Marly, she was present in the
theatre Avhen the Queen noticed that she had not
a very good place, whereupon she sent for Marshal
Duras, who was Master of Ceremonies, and told him
to find her dressmaker a better place, which he did
with great eagerness and gallantry. This was the
second time this honour had been shown to Rose ;
but although it caused a good deal of chatter on
the first occasion, people were getting used to such
things, and little notice w^as taken of it the second
time. Comtesse de Ears speaks of the incident,
however, with a certain bitterness : " The appearance
of that woman at the castle was an event. The best
place at the theatre was reserved for this grisette, who
was conducted to it by the Due de Duras, Master of
Ceremonies, who led her by the hand."

Grisette I the leading dressmaker of Paris, and of
the whole world ! The subject of the remark would
have died of rage had she heard it.

Marie-Antoinette had returned to her passion for
acting. Wherever the Court happened to be, plays
by Favart and Rousseau were given, or comic operas
by Monsigny: " L' Anglais a Bordeaux," " Le Devin
de Village," " Rose et Colas," etc.

All the actresses in these plays were Rose Bertin's
clients : The Comtesse de Chalons, Mme. de Coligny,
the Duchesse Diane de Polignac, the Duchesse de
Guiche, and " that amiable statue of Melancholy, that
pale and languishing person whose head drooped to

112 ROSE BERTIN

her shoulder, the Comtesse de Polastron."* Marie-
Antoinette for good reasons had definitely abandoned
the idea of again appearing herself in her theatre.

The year 1780 closed with the death of the
Empress Maria- Theresa (November 29). The Court
naturally went into mourning, which occasioned a
great deal of work to the Queen's outfitters.

Rose Bertin's character was not calculated to
please her exacting clients. Even the persons of the
Queen's own household had difficulty in bearing with
her. Mme. Campan severely criticizes her in her
memoirs. " Mile. Bertin," she says, " took ad-
vantage of the Queen's kindness to display great
pride. One day a lady went to her establishment
to buy certain articles of ajDparel for the Court
mourning for the Empress. Several things were
shown her, which she refused. Mile. Bertin exclaimed
thereupon, in a tone of anger and self-sufficiency :
' Show madam the last samples of my work with
Her Ma;jesty.' The remark is silly enough to have
been really uttered." Mme. Campan's criticism is
harsh, but well deserved. The anecdote went the
round, several writers speak of it, and we find it
given by the writer who continued Bachaumont's
" Memoires Secrets," under the date January 4, 1781.
In fact, Rose could speak of nothing but her collabor-
ation with the Queen. She spoke of it to all comers
boastingly ; people laughed, but she gave little heed
to that.

* " Le Theatre a Trianon."

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 113

She had nothing to complain of as to the progress
of her establishment ; things were going very well,
and the cost of the Queen's toilettes grew more and
more considerable. In a statement of expenses drawn
up for the years 1777 and 1781 by Randon de la
Tour, Treasurer of the Households of the King and
Queen, we find the following note appended :

" The supplementary expenses of the wardrobe,
which in 1777 amounted to 37,106 livres, amount in
1781 to 84,000 livres, an increase of 46,894 livres."*

The statement of expenses of the Queen's House-
hold f shows us that the extraordinary expenses for
the wardrobe amount respectively to 194,118 livres
17 sols in 1780, 151,290 livres 3 sols in 1781,
199,509 livres 4 sols in 1782.

The Marchioness of Grammont, Comtesse d*Ossun,
who had been Lady-in- Waiting since 1781, explains
this increase in a letter dated from Versailles : J

" I have, sir, the honour of sending you a state-
ment of the expenses for the Queen's wardrobe
during last year, 1782. The sum is considerably
higher than I could wish ; but the feasts given for
the Count du Nord, and the arrangements I had
made for the visit to Marly, which was to have
taken place last autumn, compelled me to exceed
the limits I had laid down. I am hoping that this
present year may be less costly, as I have in reserve
articles which I had selected for Marly, and which

* Archives Nationales, Serie 0\ 3,793.
t Ibid. X I^^'

114 ROSE BERTIN

may be used this spring. I beg you will please to
inform the King of these details, when requesting his
orders for the payment to me of a supplementary
sum of 111,509 livres, which I require to pay this
year's bills."

We learn from the above that Louis XVI. was
comptroller of these expenses, although he did not
check them.

Overwhelmed as she was by work for the Queen,
Rose was necessarily compelled to neglect sometimes
other clients, and her arrogance when reproached
caused her to lose more than the customer.

"Flattery and attention had turned poor Mile.
Bertin s head," writes the Vicomtesse de Ears, who
was one of those who had little love for the dress-
maker. " A lady of my acquaintance went to her
shop in her absence to order a hat d la Bertoiiienne
for the wife of a lawyer of Bordeaux." Pierre
Montan Berton was the director of the Opera, under
whose administration the fame of that house spread
abroad from the works of the two rival composers,
Gluck and Piccini, presented there. He died in 1780,
and his name was the pretext for a new style of hat.
" The price," adds Mme. de Ears, " was settled by
Mile. Picot, first workwoman of the establishment,
and paid in advance by my friend, who left giving
her address. Two hours later a servant dressed in
green livery with gold braid brought back the money
left for the hat, with a note from Mile. Bertin, worded
in a ridiculous fashion, stating that it was impossible

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 115

for her to work for the wife of a lawyer, as all her
time and that of her workers was employed in carry-
ing out the orders of Her Majesty and the Court."

Charlotte Picot realized the advantage she might
derive from the situation ; her conduct, in fact, differed
in no way from that of Rose Bertin herself with respect
to her employer, Mile. Pagelle. Charlotte was " a
very skilful, intelligent, and, above all, enterprising
worker," says the " Memoires Secrets," " who, realizing
her talent, set up for herself, and soon robbed her
former mistress of the majority of her clients." Which
is perhaps somewhat exaggerated.

" Besides her intelligence," says the Comtesse de
Fars, '' she had a pretty face and great tact ; she left
Mile. Bertin, therefore, and raised an altar against her
altar."

This was quite sufficient to arouse the anger of a
person as quick-tempered as Rose Bertin ; bat there
was perhaps another motive more serious still — that
is, if the statement in the " Souvenirs de Leonard "
is correct. It is related in this book that Mile. Picot
circulated a story among the scandal-loving ladies
who frequented her shop, that " Mile. Bertin, at the
time when the King's Household had been dismissed
by the Comte de Saint-Germain, had not troubled to
reform a grey musketeer, whose maintenance had
already been very costly, not only because of his five
feet seven and a half inches, but also because of his
habit of losing eight or ten louis every evening
at faro, to which habit he added that of beating Mile.

116 ROSE BERTIN

Bertin whenever he was unable to satisfy this fatal
passion.'*

That Mile. Bertin had been the subject of scandal-
mongering tongues is not surprising ; the contrary
would have been surprising at a time when loose
morals were general, and when pamphleteers spared
neither the Queen nor any prominent person. But it
is quite incredible that the arrogant milliner would
have tolerated such treatment as is described by the
author of the " Souvenirs de Leonard."

Fate decreed that, at the moment when Mile. Bertin
was most exasperated with Mile. Picot, they should
meet in the gallery at Versailles. The " Mdmoires
Secrets '* tells us that in a moment of anger Mile.
Bertin spat in her enemy's face and insulted her. A
lawsuit followed, and on Monday, September 3,
judgment was given against Rose Bertin, who was
sentenced to pay 20 livres as alms and all the costs.
" Considering the place where the insult was com-
mitted, the punishment is regarded as insufficient."

In view of Rose Bertin's pride, the sentence was
pleasing to many who had suffered from her imperti-
nence. The "Mdmoires Secrets" goes on to say, after
reporting the incident under date September 8, 1781,
that Rose Bertin appealed to the Grand Conseil : *'The
case was to have been heard on Wednesday — that is to
say, to-day — but the Queen, whose kindness to Mile.
Bertin, her dressmaker, is well known, caused a letter
to be written to M. de Nicolai, President of the Court,
asking him to come to report the state of the case to

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 117

her before proceeding farther. The case has been,
therefore, remanded for a week." The documents
relating to the case are preserved in the archives of
Seine-et-Oise.*

The following is the complaint of Mile. Picot :

'' To the Lieutenant-General of the Police for Civil
and Criminal Matters, etc., at Versailles. Humbly
sheweth, that Charlotte Picot, spinster of age, dress-
maker, residing in Paris, Rue Saint- Honore, at the
' Corbeille Galante/ parish of Saint- Germain I'Auxer-
rois, having furnished dresses to the ladies Vassy who
were presented at Court on the 15th of this month of
April, Easter Day, petitioner went on the morning
of the said day to Versailles on business. After
dinner the petitioner went into the gallery of the
castle to walk about and see the effect of the dresses.

" Towards half-past six, petitioner being in the
Queen's card-room, awaiting the King and Royal
Family, who were in the chaj^el, she perceived Mile.
Bertin, dressmaker of Paris, Rue Saint- Honore, facing
Saint-Honore, accompanied by two young ladies,
walking in the gallery. Mile. Bertin, in passing before
petitioner, stopped, gazed at her attentively, and con-
tinued her walk, but returned a moment later, stopped
in front of the petitioner, and fixed her eyes on her

* Serie B, Prevote de PHotel. Procedures de 1782
et Registre des Audiences de 1781-82. See also " Un
Moment d'Humeur de Mile. Rose Bertin,'*'* par E. Conard,
Versailles, 1891.

118 ROSE BERTIN

for two or three minutes; which perceiving, petitioner
turned her head away, whereupon Mile. Bertin, seek-
ing an opportunity of insulting her, seized that
moment to spit in petitioner's face.

" Such a grave insult is infinitely reprehensible in
every point of view. It was committed in the Castle
of Versailles, in the room facing the Queen's apart-
ments— that is to say, at a spot where everything
brings the Royal Family, and the respect due to them,
to one's mind ; for which reason it is absolutely
necessary that measures should be adopted to prevent
a recurrence of such a scandal, which can only be
eflfected by imposing a severe penalty. On the other
hand, to spit in a person's face is to show the
greatest contempt for that person. The petitioner,
who did not expect such an insult, fainted and lost
consciousness, and would have perished but for the
ready assistance of persons near her. It was not,
indeed, until half an hour later that she recovered
consciousness, and was able to leave the gallery of the
castle, and to return to her cariage, and thus to Paris.

" The petitioner, jealous of her honour and reputa-
tion, is anxious to obtain legal reparation for the
insult given her by Mile. Bertin, for which reason
she has recourse to your authority.

" Having considered which, sir, may it please you
to give petitioner satisfaction for the insult given her
by Mile. Bertin as related above, and permit petitioner
in your presence to bring evidence of the matter,
according to the facts communicated to the King's

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 119

Attorney, in conjunction with whom you, sir, may
come to some fitting decision. . . .

^' Charlotte Picot."

We learn from the above the exact site of Rose
Bertin's establishment, "facing Saint- Honor6"; no
trace of this church remains, nor of the house where
the dressmaker resided, the Louvre being built upon
the site. In answer to Mile. Picot, Rose's counsel
produced his defence, of which the " Correspondance
Litt^raire " gives certain extracts, as follows :

" Mile. Picot desires to cover with shame her to
whom she owes her existence and position. How
shall I find words to express the horror such an
action inspires ? I will not try — I pity her ; but I
owe it to justice, to the public who esteem me, to the
great who honour me with their protection and
kindness, and above all to myself, to defend myself
from an accusation so atrocious, so false, and, I dare
to say it, so incredible.

" Without following in detail the history of all the
services rendered by Mile. Bertin to Mile. Picot, a
history unimportant in itself, but throughout which
the greatest names in France have a place, we will
limit ourselves to the principal fact and defence.

" I never have, and I never shall, do harm to
anyone, not even to Mile. Picot. But who would
say that it is criminal for me to look with contempt
upon a person who should be deeply grateful to me,

120 ROSE BERTIlSr

and instead has deceived me so cruelly ? I despise her
absolutely, I admit it — it is but what she deserves.
I met her about six o'clock in the evening: of the 15th
of last April, in the room giving on to the gallery at
Versailles. 1 did not see her ; the persons who accom-
panied me mentioned her name. The sight of her
revolted me, my stomach turned, the horror she in-
spired me with caused my gorge to rise, and no doubt
the involuntary contraction of the muscles of my face
made apparent the disgust and repulsion I felt at the
sight of her ; but I did not spit, I could not have
done so, I was petrified, and the persons who accom-
panied me, and who never lost sight of me, can bear
me witness of this, and I desire to give evidence of
this and all the facts of which I have spoken, if it is
thought fit. . . .

'' I am ignorant of what lies Mile. Picot's friends
may have told . . . but I am morally certain none of
them can have said that they saw me spit in her face. I
commit such an outrage, and in the King's palace, close
to the apartments of the Queen, who is so good as to
sometimes stoop to show me kindness — I dare to say
no one will believe it. My Judge did not believe it,
and referred the case to the Civil Court, but my
counsel will explain all this."

The hearing of the witnesses brought by Mile. Picot
was fixed for April 23. They were five in number.

Jean-Baptiste de Gumin, gentleman, native of
Dauphiny, a stockbroker of Lyons, declared that he

Br(jl /othc'inc Nal iiiihuli.

A FASHIOxXABLE DRESSMAKP^R DELIVERI\(; HER M ORK

Ajl'-i- Le Cltrr (/(./., Ih' inii.< .<c.. 177'J

'J'n face iiayc 1211

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-3 781) 121

was with his party, composed of M. Thon, cloth-
merchant of Paris, Mme. de Gumin, his wife, and
her lady's-maid, " in the room at the entrance of the
gallery, on the side of the chapel and facing the
Queen's apartments." This witness's deposition con-
firms the facts of the plaintiff's case, but does not
agree with it as to the spot where the insult occurred,
as, indeed, none of the witnesses do. "In the Queen's
card-room," says Mile. Picot. Well, the latter room
was at the extreme south end of the gallery, and is
known as the Peace Room, while the room facing it
is called the War Room. Charlotte Picot's fainting fit
must have affected her memory, or she did not know
the palace, otherwise she could not have mistaken the
two rooms ; but we confess that we are a little
sceptical as to the importance of the outrage which
the girl, who thought she would die on the spot, is
alleged to have suffered. We are more inclined than
Rose Bertin's contemporaries to diminish her guilt,
as it seems probable that Charlotte Picot was a
hypocrite only too glad to seize the occasion as an
advertisement, at a time when sandwich men had
not been imported from England to promenade in
single file in the gallery of the Palais-Royal, the
centre then of the Parisian world, as the boulevards
which stretch from Saint-Denis to the Madeleine are
now. The second witness was Mme. de Gumin,
whose maiden name was Catherine Thon, who also
says that the incident took place " in the room before
the gallery of the castle," where she was standing

122 ROSE BERTIN

"to see the Royal Family coming from Benediction
in the chapel." Aime Thon says the same. Madeleine
Bailly, Mme. de Gumin's lady's-maid, is of the same
opinion, so we may conclude that it was in the War
Room that the insult offered by the warlike Mile.
Bertin to her ex-employ^ took place. The deposition
of Pierre Guertin, employe of Messrs. Thon, Joly
and Co. , is identical with that of his employer.

The five witnesses were agreed in putting the
blame on Mile. Bertin ; but were they not exaggerat-
ing the incident, had they no interest in the matter ?
I consider one witness at least suspect — that is,
Pierre Guertin ; what was he doing at Versailles
that day, and how came he to be in Charlotte Picot's
company ? It is evident from M. Thon's deposition,
given below, that all these people were acquainted
with each other. M. Thon deposes that " on Easter
Day last, 15th instant, having come to Versailles to
see the Court, and being, about six or half-past six in
the evening, in company with M. and Mme. Gumin,
deponent's brother-in-law and sister, in His Majesty's
palace, in the room called the War Room, giving on
to the gallery on the side of the chapel, having taken
up position near the windows leading to the terrace
to see the Court on their way from Benediction,
Mile. Picot, accompanied by M. Guertin, deponent^s
employe, approached the party, and placed them-
selves by deponent's side ; at the same moment he
saw Mile. Bertin, also a dressmaker of Paris, coming
from the gallery, Mile. Picot being at the time in

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 123

conversation with deponent. The said Mile. Bertin
approached the said Mile. Picot, and, gazing on her
fixedly with a look of contempt, spat upon her neck
on the left side, saying, 'I promised you this — I have
kept my word,' and then went on her way. Imme-
diately the said Mile. Picot felt unwell, and they were
obliged to lean her against one of the windows and
apply eau de Cologne to relieve her. A little later
deponent saw the said Mile. Bertin return, while
deponent's sister was still endeavouring to revive the
said Mile. Picot from her fainting fit, upon whom the
said Mile. Bertin cast a look of contempt and disdain.
After the said Mile. Picot came to herself, deponent
and his party left her."

We trust that Pierre Guertin did not do the same,
that he bid good-bye to his employer, M. Thon, and
remained behind to render further assistance to the
wretched Charlotte. In any case, the return from
Versailles after such a scene, in company with a
woman still nervous and trembling from the effects
of it, cannot have presented the same charm as the
journey there, with the young green of the trees to
brighten the route, and the indescribable joy of April
to lend enhanced beauty to the luxurious carriages
bearing the noblest in France to the Palace of
Versailles.

The text of the sentences pronounced against Rose
Bertin on August 18 and September 1 bear witness
that thouofh the Court considered a certain censure
necessary, yet, like us, they considered that the wit-

124 ROSE BEKTIN

nesses were not entirely reliable, and that a nominal
fine would meet the case.

The sentence of August 18 prohibits the defendant
from spitting again in the plaintiff's face, and con-
demns her to pay a fine of 20 livres, applicable,
with plaintiff's consent, to the poor of the parish of
Saint-Germain I'Auxerrois. The sentence of Septem-
ber 1 merely confirms the first.

Rose Bertin was not a woman to capitulate without
fighting. At the news that the first sentence had
been confirmed, no doubt doors were slammed in the
privacy of the Rue Saint- Honor e ; but at Versailles,
or anywhere else where her business with the Queen
took her, she presented a serene countenance and
succeeded in interesting Her Majesty in her case.
" The amusing part of the adventure," says the
Yicomtesse de Ears in her memoirs, " was that Mile.
Bertin, pending judgment, solicited the Queen to
interpose her authority in the matter, assuring her
that her royal dignity would be compromised in the
affront which she who worked with her might
receive ; and when sentence was passed, Mile. Bertin
replied to all who came with sympathy : '* Alas ! it is
not I who am offended in all this, but her Majesty
herself."

She then appealed to the Grand Conseil. Sentence
was about to be pronounced, when the Queen sent for
M. de Nicolai, President of the Court, to confer with
him upon the point, and the case was remanded for
eight days. Judgment was finally passed on

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 125

December 19, and the sentence may be seen in the
Archives Nationales (vol. v., p. 894).

" Between Mile. Bertin, dressmaker to the Queen
. . . the appellant, according to her petition presented to
the Council on December 11 . . . begs that her appeal be
granted, and the sentence and proceedings of the
Prevote de THotel be declared null, and the said
Mile. Picot be condemned in such damages as the
Council shall think fit . . . the appellant denies formally
all the facts set forth in Mile. Picot 's complaint of
April 18, 1781, and, on the contrary, is ready to bring
evidence in proof of the following facts :

*' 1. That at the hour appellant is accused of
spitting in Mile. Picot's face she was in the Queen's
apartments, having received instructions to await
Her Majesty there on her return from Benediction, on
Easter Day, 1 5th of last April ; and that she remained
there until seven o'clock in the evening.

"2. That when apellant passed and repassed through
the gallery and in the War Room it was not more than
a quarter after five, and that she passed and repassed
without spitting in Mile. Picot's face, nor on her, nor
on any person whatsoever.

" 3. That at the moment she passed, one of the
young ladies who work in her shop, and who
accompanied her, called her attention to Mile. Picot,
near to one of the Suiss guards of the castle, who was
there to keep back the crowd and leave a free passage ;
nearly hidden by the Suisse, appellant was more than

126 ROSE BERXm

six feet from Mile. Picot, so that even had she had a
tube in her mouth she could not have spat such a
distance, and still less take aim at the face of the said
Mile. Picot ; and had she spat, and if the spittle had
reached as far as Mile. Picot the Suisse and other
persons standing near would have been spattered and
would have complained, and appellant would have
been arrested on the spot.

*' 4. That Mile. Picot was standing with her right
shoulder to the people passing to the chapel, and not
the left, as her witnesses have stated. ,

'* 5. That there were more than sixty persons in
the War Room when appellant passed and repassed
on April 15, 1781, being Easter Day, at about a
quarter past five in the evening, so that if the
appellant had really spat in Mile. Picot's face, and if
the alleged insult had caused the commotion she has
depicted in her complaint, and had she fainted, and
been carried half dead to the window, while smelling
salts were used to revive her and restore her from
her fainting condition, she might have had sixty
witnesses ready to depose to the truth of so
scandalous and notorious an outrage, which had
aroused the attention of all the spectators ; and had
she not delayed three days in bringing a charge, she
would not have been reduced to the four or ^yq
persons whom she thought fit to choose fi:*om her
own party, and who during the three days she had
made accomplices of her little plot.

" The appellant begs leave to bring evidence in

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 127

contradiction of the facts set forth in Mile. Picot's
complaint. . . .

'' And the said Mile. Picot, appellant, presents
petition dated December 17, 1781, begging that
the Council may be pleased to disregard the appeal
of the said Mile. Bertin. . . .

" After Desnos, counsel for Mile. Bertin, assisted
by Carteron his attorney, had concluded his speech,
and Mitte, counsel for Mile. Picot, assisted by his
attorney Maillon, had concluded his speech, and after
De Yaucresson, for the King's Attorney-General, had
likewise been heard, and the case had been heard
in two sittings —

" The Council finds that the appeal of the party
represented by Desnos, against the sentences in
question, is well founded, and, in accordance with
the King's Attorney- General, declares the sentence
given at the Pr^vot^ de I'Hotel, May 12, 1781, null
and void, as also all proceedings connected with it
. . . and condemns the party represented by Mitte
to pay the costs of appeal.

"Given in Paris, by the Council, December 19,
1781."

The Queen's influence had perhaps something to do
with the sentence, which was nevertheless justified by
the insufficient evidence brought by Charlotte Picot.

A new case was brought, however, and for six
months the litigation was continued, to the profit and
amusement of magistrates, lawyers, and public.

128 * ROSE BERTIN

The jurisdiction of the Pr^vot^ de rH6tel had
been already turned into ridicule, notably by Cochu,
lawyer of the Council. The Provost of the^Hotel was
nicknamed " Roi des Ribands," it being alleged that
his chief duty was to watch over the gay ladies who
followed the Court. The lawsuit of the two dress-
makers was well calculated to provoke public laughter
anew.

A new case was opened in January, 1782, and the
appeal was heard in April before Claude-Joseph Clos,
King's Counsel, Lieutenant-General of the Police for
Civil and Criminal Causes. A complete inquiry was
made and new witnesses heard. Petitions and objec-
tions were multiplied on both sides, and the case
dragged on until 1784 — that is, more than three years,
during which time, no doubt, the work-girls and
clients of the Rue Saint-Honord suffered greatly at
the hands of the irritable Rose.

Various events which happened during the course
of 1781 diverted public attention from lawsuits and
minor incidents. The Opera-house took fire. Rose
Bertin's establishment in the Rue Saint-Honord was
situated between the Rue Champfleuri and Rue du
Chantre, both of which have disappeared ; in fact, it
was built almost on the spot where now stands the
entrance to the Louvre, called the Saint-Honord Door.
The Opera was at the corner of the Rue de Valois,
quite near to Rose Bertin's shop.

The fire was very considerable, and there were
various victims ; but the number would have been

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 129

much greater but for the presence of mind of the
ballet-master, who was on the stage when the fire
broke out. It was on the night of June 8. The air
was heavy and stormy, and rain had begun to fall.
The ballet *' Orpheus" was being given, when the ballet-
master gave an abrupt order for the dancing to cease,
which caused a certain amount of murmuring among
the audience ; the curtain was instantly dropped.
Order was then given to cut the ropes which held
the piece of burning scenery ; the order was clumsily
carried out, the ropes being cut on one side only.
Hanging in this way the scenery burnt more quickly,
and soon the whole theatre was in flames. The
smoke had already driven the audience out, their cries
awakening the whole district. People crowded to
their windows, and the street filled quickly. A fire
in the Paris of olden days, with its narrow streets, was
a terrible business. People could still remember the
fire which consumed the Hotel Dieu on December 30,
1772, and cries of alarm arose as a column of
flame more than 200 feet high shot into the air,
" tinged with many colours, an effect due to the
burning oil-painted scenery and gilded boxes." The
Palais-Royal was in great danger ; the roof several
times caught fire, but was speedily extinguished.
Not only the Palais-Royal but, indeed, the whole
district, was in danger from the continual shower of
burning sparks and splinters which fell on the adjoin-
ing roofs. The reservoirs, which should have been full,
were absolutely empty. Anxiety was at its height

130 ROSE BERTIN

during the whole of that night, the panic being con-
siderably increased about half-past nine by the falling
in of the rafters, which caused a great shower of
sparks.

Happily there was no wind, and, as rain continued
to fall, the fire was confined to the theatre, which was
completely burnt; it had been burnt before in 1773,
and rebuilt on the same site. On June 15, a week
after it had broken out, the fire was still burning in
the foundations of the theatre.

There were, unfortunately, various victims, amongst
whom w^ere several of the dancers. Eleven corpses were
found in the first instance, and taken to the Morgue.
M. de Caumartin, Provost of Merchants, and Le Noir,
Chief of the Police, w^ere on the spot from the begin-
ning, endeavouring to organize willing helpers in order
to save what was possible ; " but the firemen's efforts,"
says Mercier, '^ were powerless to save anything but
the facade on the Rue Saint-Honore."

Rose Bertin might have watched from her windows
the sad cortege which bore the bodies of the victims
to the Church Saint-Honore, facing her shop ; and as
the search in the ruins of the theatre continued some
days, she was an eyewitness of the heart-rending
scenes, no one being better able than she to carry
news of the search to the Queen, who was at Marly
expecting her second child. The fire at the Opera-
house, of all theatrical fires in Paris, has only been
surpassed in horror by that which consumed the

LA GRANDE VOGUE (1778-1781) 131

Opera Comique in 1887, when there was a holocaust
of more than 200 victims.

In spite of the Queen's condition, the inventive
genius of milliners continued to design new fashions.
The Dauphin was born on October 22, 1781, and
this event also helped to divert public attention from
the Bertin law^suit. The birth was the occasion, too,
of new styles of hats ; bonnets a la Henri IV., a la Ger-
trude, aux Cerises, a la Fanfan, aitx Sentiments replies y
a V Esclavage brisSy a Colin- Maillardy gave place to
hats au Dauphin^ and then to hats in honour of the
churching of the Queen.

Louise Fusil has told us in her " Souvenirs d'une
Actrice " how a society woman spent her day at this
time. On rising she would put on a dressing-gown
and receive a few intimate friends, change this for
a morning cloak to go into her oratory, and the
cloak for a light peignoir to retire into her cabinet.
t' The pretty boudoir, with its favourite ornaments ;
the walls covered with engravings of past fashions,
which look so ridiculous when they have passed.
One says to oneself : ' Great God ! did I wear that ?'
' Yes, madam, and very charming you looked in
that hat.' ' It is not possible.' To go out one wore
a long cloak with blonde lace, and veil, and in winter
white hood and wadded satin cloak. For dinner, if
one was alone, a neglige toilette was permissible,
unless there was a ball or visits to follow. Dresses
and coiffures were similar to the style often to be

132 ROSE BERTIN

seen at our theatres, with the exception of the hats
a la Henri IV,, which have not yet been adopted.

" One may suppose, considering the taste for luxury,
that it was above all at Longchamps that the greatest
display was made. Long beforehand ladies could
think of nothing but how to invent some fashion
no one else had thought of. . . . Milliners and
costumiers were worth their weight in gold, and
came to assist in planning the attack."

CHAPTER lY

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES ROSE BERTIN, RUE DE

RICHELIEU — HER PRETENDED BANKRUPTCY

(1782-1787)

In 1782 Marie -Antoinette discovered a new amuse-
ment. As little girls play at keeping shop, the
Queen took to playing at being a milkmaid and a
shepherdess, with the whole village of Trianon for
her playground. But she was a clean shepherdess,
a coquettish milkmaid, a village maiden in silk attire,
after Watteau ; and consequently hats and dresses
were required to suit the part.

White became her favourite colour. The Creoles
of St. Domingo had introduced it into Bordeaux,
where it had become very fashionable. Linen, linon,
cotton, and calico, pure white or striped with pale
colours, supplanted all other kinds of material, to the
great advantage of the manufactory of figured cottons
established by Oberkampf at Jouy in 1750.

Fichus were discarded in favour of swansdown
palatines called chats.

The two most fashionable types of dress were the

133

134 ROSE BEKTIN

polonaise and the anglaise. The polonaise was an
open overdress, above a rather short skirt, with three
breadths raised and draped, one on each side and one
at the back. The sleeves stopped short above the
elbow ; a hood was sometimes adapted to the bodice.
The anglaise was a kind of coat generally worn for
walking.

Rose kept her monopoly and her notoriety ; nothing
so stimulates the latter as caricature and satire.
The obscure are not made fun of, nor do they appear
upon the stage in a transparent disguise. Not
everyone can be the theme of a popular song; still
less is it given to many people to see themselves in
a theatrical representation. Rose had that unheard-
of stroke of luck, an advertisement quite unique at
that date. On April 9, 1782, a comedy-vaudeville
by Pr^vot, an advocate of Parliament, was produced
at the Theatre Italien. This comedy was a sort of
allegorical revue^ at first presented without a title, and
afterwards called " Le Public Yengd."

We read in " Correspondance Litt^raire " : " The
background of the scene represents a desert. Truth
appears asleep in the arms of Time. . . . Opinion and
Caprice twist and twirl, holding the portfolio of the
Public. Amphigouri and her troupe, consisting of
Cabal, Paradox, Nycticorax, Dramomane, and Har-
moniche, had long endeavoured to keep the public
beyond the reach of Truth. The national Genius,
exiled by bad taste, returns to his native France
after long travels. He puts to flight all the ridiculous

M V si'c Cii ma vale t

DIIKSS \ LA SUZANNE IN THE PLAY ''^ LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO '

Desiijncd bit WaAtf^uu, ciinrc re<l i.nj Baniv.ojj

Til face page 134

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 135

phantoms which had taken possession of tiie Public,
breaks the bonds with which they had bound him,
and reconciles him with Truth, Laughter, and the

Graces."

This is surely a transparent satire upon past eccen-
tricities, given at a moment when the public taste
showed a reaction towards simplicity. The " Cor-
respondance Litt^raire " continues : '' The part of
Mme. du Costume, or Mile. Bertin, who comes
forward, of course, to give the Public an account
of her success, contains a rather agreeably rhymed
madrigal, but it is introduced so awkwardly that it
produced very little effect :

Sitr Pair de ^''La Baronne.''''

" C'est un mystere :
Trop tard vos cartons sont venus.

C'est un mystere
Sur une Grace je voulus
Epuiser tons les dons de plaire
Elle avait tout pris chez Venus,

Cest un mystere/'

Pr^vot was not a great poet, and these verses are
very mediocre. It is not surprising that they got
rather a cold reception. The mystery enwraps the
author's meaning so delicately that it renders it a
trifle obscure.

" At my place," says Mme. Costume elsewhere,
"you will find jointed dolls, representing the manners,
morals, and characteristics, of our time, and in six
seances, at the very most, you will get a complete
description of the whole nation."

136 ROSE BERTIN

The character of Mme. de Costume was used as a
pretext for a panegyric of the new spirit which seemed
destined to rule the world of dress.

The fashions, indeed, appeared much simpler ; but
Mile. Bertin worked as hard as ever, and Marie- Antoin-
ette's expenditure was not in the least diminished.

The Queen had not willingly abandoned the fashion
of dressing the hair in huge erections, and pyramids
surmounted by flowers, feathers, etc. Her hair began
to fall out in 1778 after the birth of Madame Roy ale,
and none of the remedies she essayed was successful
in stopping it. Then she adopted the coiffure called
a V enfant^ which consisted of a flat chignon and a
long floating curl, like the peruke of an abb^. This
had taught her that some advantage may be drawn
from the fashion even by following it with simplicity.

A picture in the galleries of Versailles gives some
idea of the fashions of that time. It represents Mme.
de Lamballe, one of Rose's titled customers. Though
it was painted by Rioult in 1843, there is every
indication that it is only a reproduction or enlarge-
ment of an early miniature painted from life. In this
picture, Mme. de Lamballe wears a straw hat covered
with white gauze, and trimmed with a wreath of roses,
myosotis, and jasmine. This is certainly the most
elegant head-dress designed in the workshops of the
Rue Saint-Honor^ ; and not only the most elegant, but
one of those which most nearly approaches the present
fashions, and perhaps the only one in really good
taste.

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 137

At that time flowers and rustic fancies were all the
rage ; a breath of spring had inspired the fashion,
which was, indeed, sorely in need of rejuvenation and
deliverance from the increasingly cumbersome and
heavy extravagances of the last ten years. It was a
complete transformation, but, as we have said, it did
not cost a penny the less.

In May and June of 1781 the Grand-Duke of
Russia, afterwards Paul L, made a journey to Paris
with his wife, under the name of the Comte and
Comtesse du Nord, and their visit offered a pretext
for holding festivities at Court in their honour.

The Grand-Duchess ordered her dresses from Mile.
Rose, and commissioned the Baroness Oberkirch to
superintend their making. She alludes to this in the
following passage of her memoirs, in which we find
once more the impression made by Mile. Bertin upon
those who visited her establishment, and one of those
repartees so characteristic of the proprietress of the
" Grand- Mogol." Mme. Oberkirch writes on May 17 :
" According to the orders of the Grand-Duchess, I
called on Mile. Rose Bertin, the Queen's celebrated
dressmaker, to inquire if her dresses were ready.
The whole establishment was at work upon them ;
damasks, dauphines, figured satins, brocades, and-
lace, were scattered in every direction. The Court'
ladies came to inspect them out of curiosity, but it
was forbidden to imitate any of the models until
they had been worn by the Princess. Mile. Bertin
seemed to me an extraordinary person, full of

138 ROSE BERTIN

her own importance, and treating Princesses as her
equals.

" A story is told that a lady from the provinces
came to order a head-dress for her presentation ; she
wanted something new. Mile. Bertin looked her
coolly up and down, and, apparently satisfied with
this scrutiny, turned to one of her young ladies, and
said majestically : * Show madam the result of my
last collaboration with Her Majesty.' "

The ball in honour of the Grand-Duchess of Russia
was given on June 8, but the presentation took place
on May 20. Mme. Oberkirch tells us that ''the
Grand-Duchess was very richly dressed that day in
a state costume of brocade bordered with pearls, over
a pannier six yards wide. She wore the most beautiful
jewels that can be imagined."

The description of the dress worn by Marie- Antoi-
nette on the day of the ball is preserved for us by the
Marquis de Valfons who says in his " Souvenirs " :

"The Queen was dressed in the costume of Gabrielle
d'Estrde — a black hat with white feathers, a mass of
heron's plumes held by four diamonds and a diamond
band, fastened with the diamond called Pitt, worth
two millions ; a stomacher of diamonds, and a diamond
belt over a dress of white silver gauze, powdered with
paillettes^ and ruchings of gold studded with diamonds."

Mme. Oberkirch tells us that two days before she
tried on, meaning to wear it at the ball, " something
very fashionable, but rather uncomfortable : little flat
bottles curved to the shape of the head, holding a drop

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 139

of water to moisten the stalks of the natural jflowers
and keep them fresh in the coiffure. It was not
always successful, but when it could be managed it
was charming. Spring on the head in the midst of
snow-white powder produced an unequalled effect."

The effect must indeed have been very graceful ;
flowers being the fashion, some ingenious device was
necessary to keep them fresh, when the flowers of
Joseph Wengel were not used.

A certain Joseph Wengel had lately put artificial
flowers on the market ; he had first got the idea from
Italy, where they were made by the nuns for the
decoration of the altar. Until that time natural
flowers had been almost solely used for the adorn-
ment of ladies. It was therefore an innovation of
which Rose and her rivals hastened to take advantage.

A very curious collection of patterns of the dresses
worn by the Queen in the year 1782 is preserved in
the National Archives. The brothers Goncourt speak
of it as follows in their ^' Histoire de Marie-
Antoinette."

" The Archives of the Empire possess a curious
volume bearing the following inscription upon its
cover of green parchment : * Mme. la Comtesse d'Ossun :
Garde-robe des Atours de la Reine. Gazette pour
I'Ann^e 1782.' It contains patterns of the dresses
worn by the Queen from 1782 to 1784 stuck on
white paper with red wafers. It is like a palette of
pale colours youthful and gay ; their brightness,
youth, and gaiety, are all the more noticeable when we

140 ROSE BERTIN

compare them with the dead leaf, carmelite brown,
and other almost Jansenistic colours of the dresses
worn by Mme. Elizabeth, which we find in another
register. Dainty relics, appealing to the eye, in
which a painter might find enough to reconstruct the
Queen's costume on any given day, or even at any
given hour of her life ! He would only have to glance
through the divisions of the book : Dresses on the large
•pannier, Dresses on the small pannier, Turkish dresses^
Levites, English dresses^ and state dress of taffeta ;
chief provinces of the kingdom divided between Mme.
Bertin, trimming the costumes of ceremony for
Easter ; Mme. Lenormand, trimming the Turkish
dresses of the shade called Paris mud with em-
broideries of Spanish jasmine ; and Romand, and
Barbier, and Pompee, working and manipulating in
blue, white, pink, and pearl-grey, sometimes powered
with gold sequins, the costumes for Versailles and
Marly, which were brought to the Queen every
morning in great wrappings of taffeta."

We have tried to discover what was the exact
share of Mile. Bertin in this collection, which
mentions ninety-seven costumes, and consisted of
eighty-nine patterns, of which seventy-eight have
been preserved. The last mentioned belonged to the
summer of 1784. But the way in which the register
was kept is rather unsatisfactory, and is lacking in
method. The name of the dressmaker is mentioned
in most cases, but that of the modiste less frequently ;
only occasionally is there any indication that such

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 141

and such a costume was trimmed by Mme. Pompee
or Mile. Bertin. The name of the former is mentioned
once, and that of the latter six times ; but this does
not mean that Rose Bertin only trimmed six dresses
for the royal wardrobe in two years, namely : a state
dress for Easter in white satin ; a brown silk levite
embroidered with small flowers ; a dress on the small
pannier of white silk gauze ; a white state dress
trimmed with sweet peas ; a white Turkish dress
trimmed with sweet peas; and coat of wine-coloured
silk.

This register seems to us like a herbal, and the
patterns like pressed flowers which have kept their
fresh colouring in despite o£ time. By its aid we can
evoke an image of the Queen in the days of her
happiness, surrounded by affection and admiration,
happy in the luxury of Versailles and the charm of
Trianon, her hands stroking the soft texture of these
delicate fabrics, and an image of other industrious
hands fixing, with skilful needle, flowers, ruchings,
garlands, pearls, and embroideries, upon all these
shimmering staffs, in the disorder of a busy workroom
from which dazzling marvels will presently emerge.

No wearer of a crown or bearer of an illustrious
name could escape a visit to Mile. Rose.

The voyage of the Comtesse du Nord to Paris, and
her visits to the Rue Saint- Honore, made Mile. Bertin
the fashion in Russian society. Princess Tcherbinine,
Princess Baratinsky, wife of the Ambassador, and
Baroness Benekendorf sent her orders. x\mong those

142 ROSE BERTIN

of the latter were two Russian costumes, one of blue
satin worth 240 livres, and the other of blue and
silver cloth worth 420 livres.

These Russian costumes were cheap compared with
the presentation robes which Rose Bertin supplied to
the great ladies who were to appear before the Royal
Family for the first time. One of these dresses made
for the Vicomtesse de Polastron, on December 2, 1780,
cost 3,090 livres. Towards the end of August, 1782,
Rose delivered to her the costume of a priestess
which cost 2,434 livres, and certain alterations made
a few days later to the same dress cost 1,150 livres.

In this year of 1782 the modistes, always on the
watch for topical novelties to retain their importance
and their profitable influence over women, could think
o£ nothing better than to start a fashion for the
chapeau a la Marlborough, because the Queen was
heard one day singing the popular song of Marl-
borough. At that time bonnets a la Religieuse were
still in fashion, and one of these cost 18 livres.

In the year 1783 experiments in aeronautics
brought in the fashions in hairdressing called the
Ballon, a la Mongoljier^ an Globe de Paphos^ and au
Globe de Robert. The success of the " Mariage de
Figaro " gave rise to fashions a la Cherubin, d la
Suzan7ie, smd a la Basile.

Rulers of fashions are always eager to avail them-
selves of successful plays in naming their novelties.
Thus, "La Veuve du Malabar," by Lemierre, in 1780 ;
" Les Amours," by Bayard de Monvel, in 1786 ; " La

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 113

Brouette du Vinaigrier," by Mercier, in 1787 ; and
" Tartare," by Beaumarchais, all stood sponsors to
the novelties of the season.

On October 13, 1783, it is reported in the
" Memoires Secrets" : " Hats a la Caisse d'Escompte
are already on the market. These hats have no
crowns. All the women have hastened to adopt
this new fashion, which is a cruel pun against the
directors." (" Crowns of hats " happen to be synony-
mous with ''funds" in French, hence the pun.)

A few years ago, after a celebrated krach, these
hats reappeared. They were called chapeaux Comptoir
(CEscompte. Several of our contemporaries have worn
them. Indeed, nothing is new under the sun, in
fashions as in other things ; it is but the turn of the
wheel. "New things are only those which have
been forgotten," as Rose Bertin said very truly one
day to Marie-Antoinette.

This fashion had only a relatively small and
restricted vogue. That which made the most sensa-
tion outside France was the fashion a la Marlhorough.

" The Duchess of Marlborough, granddaughter of
the famous General of that name, which was adopted
by her husband . . . made a collection of all the
songs, plays, farces, puns, and epigrams, relating to
him."* But she was not satisfied with this. "At
the same time she commissioned Mile. Bertin to send
her samples of all the fashions a la Marlborough,
both for men and women." f

'■^' Bachaumont, " Memoires Secrets," 1783 (August 14).
t Ibid,

144 ROSE BERXm

The King rarely paid attention to the Qaeens
costumes, but one day in May, 1783, he could not
refrain from making fun of an innovation which
seemed to him more ridiculous than usual. The
anecdote is told as follows : '' Within the last few
days, on returning from the chase, the King had his
hair dressed in a chignon, such as women wear, and
went to visit the Queen. Her Majesty burst out
laughing, and asked the meaning of this masquerade,
and whether the carnival had come again. ' Do you
think it ugly ?* asked her royal husband. ' It is
a fashion I wish to set ; I have never started one
yet.' ' Ah, Sire, beware of that one — it is frightful !'
replied Her Majesty. ' But, madam,' he replied, * we
men must find some way of doing our hair to distin-
guish us from women ; you have robbed us of the
plumet, the chapeau, the cadenette^ the queue, and now
you have taken the cadogan, w^hich was all we had
left, and which I think very unbecoming to women.'
The Queen grasped his meaning, and, being always
anxious to please the King above all things, imme-
diately gave orders that her cadoga7is should be
unplaited, and had her hair dressed in a chignon.
It is probable that this really ridiculous fashion,
which has become the rage in Paris, will be banished
by the King's joke."*

This was a defeat for Leonard, and not for Rose
Bertin. It is, however, rather difficult to realize that
Louis XVI. can have driven side by side with the
* Bachaumont, " Mcmoires Secrets," 1783 (August 14).

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 145

Abbe Edgeworth with his hair dressed in a chignon
like a woman. Yet it is a positive fact, and well in
keeping with the character of the King, who did not
like to thwart the Queen even in her most regrettable
whims and wildest extravagance.

The cost of dress had, indeed, become so excessive
that it caused what has since been called krachs in
the best-known families and among merchants whose
credit appeared to be most solid. The " Correspon-
dance Litteraire" tells us that in September, 1782,
" a dealer in fashions, who was supposed to have an
income of 50,000 or 60,000 livres, risks losing 30,000
by the bankruptcy of the Prince de Guemene." We
learn from the same source that, in relating this
disaster to his friends of the Palais-Royal, he said :
^' Here am I reduced to living like a private
gentleman."

The bankruptcy of the Prince de Guemene caused
a great sensation. It is said to have amounted to
more than 35,000,000 livres. Rose Bertin lost by
it, but not so heavily as her unfortunate colleague.
" Three thousand creditors appeared upon the list of
the ' Most Serene Swindler,' as the Marquis de la
Vaiette called him."*

There were husbands who paid and said nothing,

and husbands who said nothing and did not pay,

which was most disastrous for the dealers. But as

ever since the world began there have been husbands

of all kinds, there were some who paid but grumbled

* " Memoires de la Vicoratesse de Pars.

146 ROSE BERTTN

and argued over the bills. M. de Toulongeon was
one of these,* This M. de Toulongeon had married
a Mile. d'Aubigne, who wished to be in the swim,
and had her clothes made by the most fashionable
dressmakers in Paris. When he remarked that the
bill was — well, a bit stiff, Mile. Bertin replied : " Oh !
is Yernet paid only according to the cost of his
canvas and colours ?"

Such a comparison might serve to justify any
extortion. At that time pictures by the masters had
their value and fetched the highest prices. A well-
known Greuze, " L'Accordee de Village/' was sold in
1782 for 16,650 livres. Two pictures by the said
Yernet at the same sale, that of the Marquis de
Menar, " A Storm on the Seashore," and a land-
scape embellished by architecture, mountains, distant
horizons, etc., fetched 6,621 livres. Greuze led the
market, but Yernet fetched a very good price.

The establishment in the Rue Saint-Honore had no
real branches, but the fashion- dealers in the provinces
bought novelties from Mile. Bertin to display in their
showrooms. Among her customers was a certain
Thdvenard, who had a shop at Dijon. Thevenard had
a friend called Bardel, who was a wholesale ribbon-
dealer in the Rue de TArbre Sec, and one of those
who supplied Rose Bertin. This Thevenard ended
his life as an emigre. He had enlisted in Conde's
army, and died in the field-hospital of Schifferstadt
on August 20, 1793.

* " Melanges de Mme. Necker.''

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 147

The fashion then inclined to moyens honneis en pre-
tressBy hats boue de Paris, and dresses a la Religieuse^
but many other articles are mentioned in the ledgers
of the Maison Bertin in 1783. Rose Bertin delivered
to the Princesse de Rochefort " painted Chinese fans
of sandalwood " ; to the Comtesse de Vergennes " a
sword knot of a Mar^chal de France" and ^'a
sword-knot in dark blue stones inlaid with silver."
Such things especially were to be found in the fashion
shops. The name of a celebrated actress, Mile. Sinvalle,
of the Comedie Fran^aise, also appears in these ledgers.
It will perhaps be interesting to note w^hat a great
actress of that time spent on her hats. The price of a
straw hat a la Religieuse which she chose in Mile.
Bertin's showroom cost 33 livres ; a pouf of em-
broidered silk gauze cost 42 livres ; and a pouf
trimmed with a wreath of pink larkspur, certainly
not the least charming of the three, cost 54 livres.

The Chevalier de Boufflers, wishing to buy a
present for New Year's Day in 1784, purchased a
rather curious basket from Mile. Bertin, a description
of which is found in her writings ; the price of it was
360 livres. It was ^' a basket au globe* in blue and
white striped pekin, tied at the base with black and
pink ribbon, a second row of ribbon trimmed with
blonde on one side closing with a ribbon drawstring ;
the said basket trimmed inside with five bouquets of

* Globes, or aerostats, were used as motifs in decoration.
It was the fashion of the day. They were to be found
everywhere, on fans, snuff-boxes, etc.

148 ROSE BERTIN

different flowers and wreaths ; a wax baby dressed
in a chemise o£ gauze trimmed with blonde lace and
a wreath of pomegranate blossom " — 360 livres for a
few flowers and a wax doll in a basket ! Perhaps
people did not haggle over the price because they did
not pay ; this bill for 360 livres was still due to the
estate of Rose Bertin in 1813.

The winter of 1784 was extremely severe. The
ground was covered with snow for four months, and
the people sufl'ered indescribable misery. The King
and Queen set an example of charity which was
followed by all. People economized on luxuries to
help those who sufl'ered most from the cold. In that
time of distress, furbelows, huge hats, and flowing
ribbons, would have been in bad taste. Rose invented
more sober head -gear than usual ; she created the
bonnet en soeur grisCy which seems to have sold very
well ; she charged 27 livres for it, and it was a success
in the provinces as well as in Paris.

Rose had now reached the summit of her career ;
her success was undisputed and indisputable.

Mme. de Campels, daughter of Mme. de Monta-
lembert, mentions in her correspondence that once in
her childhood she went with her mother to Mile.
Berlin's establishment, and that in 1784 she was in
a most " flourishing " condition and quite wealthy.

Rose Bertin had left the Rue Saint- Honor^ for the
Rue de Richelieu, a house belonging to M. de Maussion,
as appears from the interminable proceedings against
the demoiselle Picot, upon which is written : " The

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 149

year 1784, ninth clay, at the request of the demoiselle
Marie-Jeanne Bertin, spinster, dealer in fashions in
Paris, residing Rue de Richelieu, who appeals against a
sentence given in favour of Mile. Picot on January 7."*
This house in the Rue Richelieu stood upon the site
where No. 10 now stands.

In the month of May, 1784, the Baroness Ober-
kirch required a dress for her presentation to the
Queen, and naturally went to Mile. Rose, whom she
used formerly to visit with Princess Dorothy of
Wlirtemberg. Her account will give us some idea
of the business done by our modiste, now at the
height of her reputation :

" I had not been to Mile. Bertin since my return,
and everyone was talking of her marvels. She was
more the rage than ever. There was a rush for her
bonnets. She showed me thirty at least that day, all
different, attending to me herself, which was no small
favour. There was a little Bohemian hat, turned up
in a way which was simply perfect, copied from a
model given by a lady of that nationality ; all Paris
had gone mad over it. It had an aigrette and
embroidery, like the Steinkerque of our forefathers.
The effect was really very uncommon and original.
But the Queen would have none of it ; she said she
was not young enough to wear i^, thus setting a
premature example to all the superannuated coquettes
who persist in suppressing the almanac, but forget

* Archives Nationales, Serie V^. Grande Chancellerie et
Conseil, Prevute de rHotel.

150 ROSE BERTIN

that they cannot suppress their faces, which are often
indiscreet " — a very judicious reflection which proves
the good sense of Baroness Oberkirch.

" I owed the favours of Mile. Bertin," she con-
tinues, " to the memory of Mme. la Comtesse du
Nord, whose custom she had kept. She had her
own portrait in her showroom besides that of the
Queen and other royalties who honoured her with
their protection. The lady's chatter was very
amusing ; it was a mixture of hauteur and baseness
which bordered on impertinence if one gave her an
inch, and became insolent unless she was kept strictly
in her place. The Queen, with her usual kindness,
allowed her a familiarity of which she took advan-
tage, and which, she thought, gave her a right to
assume airs of importance."

It is evident that, in spite of her efforts to please,
Rose Bertin was not much of a favourite with
Baroness Oberkirch. On leaving Rose the latter
called " at Baulard's, dealer in fashions and finery.
He and Alexandrine used to be the most celebrated,
but Mile. Bertin has dethroned them. She came
from the Quai de Gesores, where she had dwelt so
long in obscurity, to triumph over her rivals and
make them all play second fiddle. Yet Baulard had
the best name fcr mantles ; he trimmed them with
exquisite taste. He kept me for more than an hour
while he held forth against Mile. Bertin, who put on
the airs of a Duchess, and was not even a bourgeoise.^'

Baulard triumphed over Mile. Bertin on that

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 151

occasion, for the Baroness ordered her presentation
dress from him because his rival had kept her waiting
too long.

There is a portrait of Rose Bertin at that date,
engraved in colours, by Jainnet, from a picture by
L. Trinquesse, an artist who had a certain celebrity.
This portrait has become rather rare ; the Biblio-
theque Nationale, the Bibliotheque d' Abbeville, and
the Mus6e des Arts, have each a copy. A proof
without the engraver's signature was sold in Feb-
ruary, 1881, for 351 francs. It represents Mile.
Bertin nearly full-face, wearing a cap, her shoulders
covered with a fichu knotted in front. In this por-
trait Mile. Bertin appears to be about forty ; the
date might therefore be 1784 or 1785. She has a
look of determination which is not surprising, but
we look in vain for the beauty sometimes attributed
to her. Rose may have been pretty at sixteen, when
she used to take home the goods supplied by Mile.
Pagelle to the great ladies of the Faubourg Saint-
Germain ; but increasing stoutness had effaced what
graceful lines she may have possessed.

As to the engraver, he had attained celebrity, not
only in his profession, but also by an unfortunate
attempt at aeronautics which he made with Abbe
Miollan in the Jardin du Luxembourg on July 11,
1784. On that day he was almost torn to pieces by
the furious mob, which had waited in the broiling sun
for the ascent of the balloon, which had been widely
advertised. It rose about half an inch, and finally split

152 ROSE BERTIN

and had to be abandoned. After this fiasco Miollan
and Jainnet became the laughing-stock of the public,
and had " constantly to see themselves hooted and
jeered at in the cruellest way in the booths of every
fair, in songs and caricatures of all kinds."'"''"

For all that, Jainnet was an engraver of great
talent, worthy to popularize the work of the painter
Trinquesse.

We have seen how the Queen refused the little
Bohemian hat made for her by Mile. Rose, on the
pretext that it was too young for her. She was then
twenty-nine, and the idea that her youth was over
took possession of her mind. She sent for Rose
Bertin on purpose to tell her " that she would be
thirty in November ; and, though no one was likely
to remind her of it, she was determined to exclude
from her dress such ornaments as were only suitable
to extreme youth, and therefore she would no longer
wear feathers or flowers."

"It is known also that the etiquette of dress is

changed : the Queen will have no more pierrotSy

chemises^ redingotes^ polonaises^ or Uvites^ Turkish

or Circassian dresses ; sober dresses with pleats are

now to be worn ; the Princesses have been requested

to discard all others for visits of ceremony, and the

Maid of Honour is to inform all ladies presenting

themselves in any other costume, that they cannot

be admitted thus without a special permission from

Her Highness, which she will go and ask for."|

* '' Correspondance Litteraire,'' t. xiv.

f " Correspondance Secrete,'' 27 F^vrier, 1785.

THE END OF ECCENTPJCITIES 153

Did all this diminish the expense ? Certainly not.
The Queen and all the ladies of her suite were swept
away by the current.

Though Marie- Antoinette economized for a brief
space in the severe winter of 1784 in order to relieve
the poor, who suffered excessively from the cold,
following the example of Louis XVL, to whom a
pyramid of snow was raised before the gate of the
Louvre, with inscriptions celebrating his " august
benevolence," she soon resumed her luxurious tastes,
with all the necessary expenditure.

From the time of Calonne's entrance into office
the budget for the Queen s dress increased. In 1785
she overstepped her allowance of 120,000 livres to
the extent of 138,000 livres, for which the Comtesse
d'Ossun, her Lady of the Wardrobe, had to request
a special grant.* In the previous year the supple-
mentary grant had been only 97,652 livres.

In 1785 Rose Bertin's share was 27,597 livres as
a dealer in fashions, and 4,350 livres for supplying
lace. But though she had the largest share, she was
not without competitors : Dame Pomp^e carried off
5,527 livres, Demoiselle Mouillard 885 livres, and
Dame ISToel 604 livres. There was another creditor
who supplied English riding habits ; he was a specialist,
a tailor called Smith; in 1785 the bill he presented
amounted to 4,097 livres. t

All this did not escape the attention of agitators
and pamphleteers on the watch for anything which

* Archives Nationales, O^, 3,792. \ Ibid,

154 ROSE BERTIN

could help to undermine an order rather worn out
than intrinsically bad.

Th^veneau de Morande, among others, does not hide
his feelings ujDon the pernicious influence of Rose
Bertin, in relating an incident which occurred at the
time when Calonne was Minister of Finance, an office
which he held from November 3, 1783 until April,
1787.

"We have another Minister," he says, " who will
not yield to Calonne nor to the Baron de Breteuil, if
not in administrative capacity, at least in obstinacy with
regard to the affairs of her ministry, in which this high
official in petiticoats will never suffer any contradiction.

*' This minister is Mile. Bertin, the leading fashion-
dealer in Paris, who has written up over her establish-
ment, in huge letters, that she has the honour of pro-
viding the Court with hats and dresses, especially
Marie- Antoinette. Nothing can equal the impertinence
and arrogance of this lady since she has been admitted
to intimacy with the Queen, to whom she lays down
the law ... in the name of Fashion, whose most
fervent priestess she proclaims herself.

" The extravagant notions and far-fetched combina-
tions of Mile. Bertin have been the cause of enormous
expenses, which Marie- Antoinette has not succeeded
in concealing, and which the King has questioned and
blamed with all the vehemence of a good husband,
careful of his revenues, and by no means anxious to
see them squandered on frills and feathers. The
Queen, advised by Mme. de Polignac and the Prin-

M MHK- WTOIN^yriE

Tu fuce I'Mge 15

THE END OF ECCENTKICITIES 155

cesse Lamballe, held out for the payment o£ Mile.
Bertin's bills, but she had great difficulty in obtaining
it. Calonne was employed in these great negotiations,
and as his devotion to Marie- Antoinette is well known,
when he urged the necessity of paying Mile. Bertin's
bill, the King replied :

" ' Parbleu ! why don t you pay them out of your
funds ? Worthy Minister of our Finances, the silly
details of the Queen's dressmaker's bill would look
well in the archives of your Ministry!*

** This ironical answer was misunderstood, or
purposely misinterpreted, by Calonne, who im-
mediately gave the Queen an order for 50,000 livres
upon the collectors of the salt-tax. Mile. Bertin has
been paid for her important labours, and her visits to
Trianon and Versailles have become more frequent
than ever."

It is interesting to note that, if the cost of Mile.
Bertin's ministrations at Court amounted to fabulous
sums, her prices were not always so exaggerated.
Though we have seen the price of a head-dress
amount to 200 livres, Mile. Bertin had other customers,
not disdained, to whom she presented more modest
accounts. The Baron Tillette de Clermont-Tonnerre
has found the bill of a certain Pecquerie, a carrier
between Abbeville and Paris, which furnishes con-
clusive proof of this. The daughter of the gendarme
Nicolas Bertin had, indeed, a faithful customer in her
native town, called Mile, de Yillerre.

It was evidently impossible to follow the fashion

156 ROSE BERTIN

and be well dressed in a small town like the capital
of Ponthieu at the end of the eighteenth century ; the
forty-two miles which separated it from Paris were
not so easily covered as they are to-day. But people
in the provinces were just as anxious as anywhere
else to cut a good figure in the society which they
frequented ; every lady wished to be as well dressed
as her neis^hbours, and feared the tattle of idle tono'ues
eager to criticize and talk scandal to pass away the
time. Nothing could prevent them from wagging,
but let it be out of jealousy rather than contempt.
That at least is a kind of triumph. As they could
not come to Paris several times a year to renew their
wardrobes, at the beginning of each season, our
grandmothers had recourse to the services of a carrier
whose cart came and went regularly upon the royal
highway of Calais, between Abbeville and the capital,
and this important person was charged with the most
various, and sometimes the most unexpected, com-
missions. But generally, as we shall see by the
account rendered to Mile, de Yillerre by Pecquerie,
which we think curious enough to be given in full,
the demand was for feminine articles of toilette :

Account of Commissions done for Mlle. de Vilerre

IN Paris.

Livres. s.
Two pots of rouge ... ... ... ... ... 6 0

Bill paid to Mlle. Bertin ...

Ointment from M. Cadet ...

Bill paid to M. Thiercelin...

A pair of shoes at the Cadran Bleu

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 157

Twelve boxes of grainne de vie

j\ ii9,ir-neL ■•• ... ... ... ...

A pair of shoes from M. Degousse

Two yards and a half of taffeta at 7 1. 10 s.

For a case ...

Franking a letter ...

Carriage of letter . . .

Carriage of case to the stage-coach from Mile

Bertin's ...
One pound of brown paste
Bill paid to Mile. Bertin ...
A pair of sabots from the Cadran Bleu
Two sticks of pomade at 12 s.
A needle-case with silver top
A piece oi armoism

Bill paid to Mile. Paris

Given to the maid at the Cadran Bleu
For dyeing of two mantles

-*- XJ.J.^^^X ••• «•• ••• •••

A muslin fichu

Six pairs of stockings owing from me
Balance ...

Livres s.

251
12

263
24

0
0

239 0

I acknowledge receipt of the above sum at Abbeville,
October 8, 1784.

(Signed) Pecgiuerie.

The things made in Rose's workshops were only
destined to live a day. Fashion was so fickle that
scarcely were they put on before a new invention
made them out of date, and they would soon have

158 ROSE BERTIN

been buried in oblivion if painting had not preserved
some of these ephemeral works, and immortalized
these frivolous and fragile creations. The Musee de
Versailles in particular contains several portraits of
ladies who were Rose Bertin's customers, and who
were painted in dresses and head-dresses made in her
workrooms.

The fancy pouf worn by Louise- Marie- Adelaide de
Bourbon, Duchesse d'Orleans, in the picture painted
by Mme. Yigee-Lebrun in 1779, is not to be
attributed to Rose Bertin. It is the artist's own
arrangment, for she preferred to pose her models
according to her own taste and pleasure — that is,
unaffectedly and without cosmetics, as naturally and
with as much truth to life as the vanity and exigence
of her clients would permit, princely clients who may
have made her fortune, though she would certainly
have made her reputation without their aid.

Besides this portrait of a faithful customer of Rose
Bertin, which does not enlighten us much upon her
handiwork, the galleries of Versailles contain several
portraits of Marie-Antoinette which show us head-
dresses and costumes worn by the Queen, which came
from the workrooms of Mile. Rose.

One of these was painted in 1785 by the Swedish
painter Wertmuller ; it was reproduced by Battaille.
It cannot be said to flatter the Queen ; her head-dress
of blue ribbons and feathers is too heavy for her face,
and the Swedish artist has posed her most ungracefully
between her two children, whose attitudes make them

THE END OF ECCENTKICITIES 159

look like little puppets. In spite of the background
showing the leafy shades of Versailles and the
Temple of Love, Marie- Antoinette does not appear in
that frame of light and grace with which it pleases
our imagination to surround her ; WertmuUer's work
is heavy, and so is that of Rose Bertin which he
reproduces.

The painting was severely judged by the Queen
herself when it was exhibited in the Salon in 1785.
" Is it possible," we read in the ** Memoires Secrets,"
*' that a man of such talent as M. Wertmuller, destined
to take the place of first painter to the King of Sweden,
should be so lacking in grace and majesty ? They
say that when the Queen entered the Salon she did
not recognize herself, and exclaimed : ' What ! is
that really meant for me ?' "

There was such a constant demand for novelty
that it was inevitable that, among such quantities,
some of the modiste's creations should be less
original than others, or, worse still, unbecoming to
her customers. But Marie-Antoinette was faithful
to her, and it was the order of the day to admire her
inventions at all costs. Without this powerful pro-
tection she might have learnt that fashion is incon-
stant, and though it may be the thing to get one's
clothes from one place one year, some other place will
be just as fashionable the year after ; and the Queen's
modiste had certainly no lack of rivals in the town.
The names of some of them have come down to us.
In 1785 the best known were Mile. Fredin, who had

160 ROSE BERTm

a shop in the Rue de la Ferronnerie, with a sign
'' I'Echarpe d'Or " ; and Mile. Quentin, whose estab-
lishment was in the Rue de Clery. From 1784 and
onwards the Princesse de Conti dealt with Richard,
Rue du Bac, who kept her custom for many years.
It seems strange that the daughter-in-law of the
Dowager Princesse de Conti should not have patronized
the modiste whose initial success was certainly due
to the kindness of her mother-in-law. Mile. Bertin's
character had something to do with it, and the
cavalier manner in which she treated a certain very
great lady, whose name is not mentioned in the
memoirs of that day, though they speak of the
sensation caused by the incident, leads us to believe
that the lady in question was the Princess.

Besides the great fashion-dealers Beaulard, Richard,
Fredin, Quentin, Picot — Rose's famous enemy — and
the Demoiselle Mouillard, femme Angier^ who sup-
plied the royal children,'^' for whom Mile. Bertin only
worked occasionally, there were numerous fashion
shops in the Palais-Royal quarter, and some in the
Palais-Royal itself.

In 1789 two ladies, Aymez and Degouste, had a
shop in the wooden gallery No. 199, and having
quarrelled — tempers were bad in the world of
fashion plates — the Demoiselle Degouste left Dame
Aymez, and took up her quarters at No. 220 in the
same gallery. She was still there two years later,
when her former partner brought proceedings against
* Archives Nationals, Series R^ i05 ; KK. 373 ; K. 529.

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 161

her for throwing ink at her shop and window display.
But in spite of all this rivalry business flourished
with the Queen's modiste, and her establishment was
always the most crowded in Paris.

At the beginning of the year 1785 she had a great
stroke of luck. One day the Spanish Ambassador's
carriage stopped before her door, and the Comte de
Aranda in person alighted. He had come to give
her the order for the entire trousseau of the Princess
of Portugal. The Journal Politique^ or Gazette des
Gazettes^ published at Bouillon, gave the following
information in the issue of Februarv 21 :

" There is now on view at the King's goldsmith's,
in the Carrousel, the silver-gilt toilette set destined for
the Princess of Portugal, who is about to marry the
Infante Dom Gabriel ; it is extremely rich and in
exquisite taste. We may judge of the number and
beauty of the dresses and ornaments for the same
Princess which Mile. Bertin has been commissioned
to make, and which it is said will cost more than
100,000 livres. This magnificent wedding outfit and
the toilette set have been ordered by the Comte de
Aranda, who has himself superintended the carrying
out of his orders."

" Do you see ? Do you understand ?" said the
Comte de Aranda to Rose Bertin, as he gave her the
necessary explanations. '^ Do you see ? Do you
understand ?" he repeated every moment. The
unfortunate Ambassador had contracted the aggra-
vating habit of 2)lanting his everlasting " Do you

162 ROSE BERTIN

see ? Do you understand ?" at the end of every
phrase.

We have seen that at that date Rose Bertin's
busmess premises were in the Rue Saint-Honore.
A judf^ment given at the Chatelet, April 21, 1785,
ordering the estate d'Escars to pay a considerable
sum which was due to Rose Bertin, specifies that on
March 21, 1785, she was carrying on her business in
the Rue de Richelieu.

Among other things, Quaker bonnets came into
fashion at that time, and had a great success towards
the end of that year. Rose Bertin had sold Quaker
bonnets to the Marquise de Praidel, Mme. de
Dampierre, and to a Spaniard, the Marquesa de
PalasioB. That year she also made the entire
trousseau of the Infanta Dona Carlotta Joaquina,
who married Dom Juan of Portugal on June 6.
After these two royal marriages Rose's reputation
was unrivalled in Spain and Portugal, as we have
seen that it was in France, Russia, Sweden, etc.
Therefore the authors of that time did not ex-
aggerate when they said that her reputation was
European.

The year 1785 also saw the triumph of the dress
a la Suzanne, The part of Suzanne in the " Mariage
de Figaro" had been played with great success by
Mile. Contat, and the costume which she wore was
immediately popularized by fashion. Beaumarchais
has given a description of it in the edition of his
play : " Her dress in the four first acts was a white

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 163

jicste with basques, very elegant, a skirt of the same,
and a toque which our fashion -dealers afterwards
called d la Suzanne^ Add to this an apron and a
fichu, replace the toque by a hat d J a Figaro, trimmed
with flowers, and we have the description of a drawing
by Watteau of an unknown lady dressed in the
fashion of 1785.

Dresses a la Comfesse and hair done a la Cheruhin
were also inventions inspired by Beaumarchais' play.

If the Queen's age and the birth of the Dauphin
on March 25, 1785, induced her to reform her dress,
yet the expense was not diminished, for at that time
Calonne had to advance 900,000 livres to pay her
debts, part of this sum being destined to pay dress
makers' bills.

Yet we have seen that at the end of the year 1785
the Queen had made up her mind to reform her style
of dress. The beplumed portrait by Wertmuller
was therefore the last one painted before she came to
this decision. We must not suppose that a radical
transformation took place from one day to another,
nor that all these fine plans were put into execution.
Plumes were admitted, but they did not appear in
such profusion as before ; luxury was not attacked,
but the absurdity of exaggerated fashions. From
that time head-dresses d la Belle Poule^ en Moulin d
Vent, or d la Minerve^ were seen no more. This was
a distinct change, a step towards reason, while waiting
for the linen bonnets of the Reign of Terror.

After the treaty of commere with England

164 ROSE BERTIN

English fashions grew popular in Paris, and dresses
en redingote had a great vogue.

The reforms introduced by Marie- Antoinette were
the subject of all conversation. They were discussed
in the Palais-Royal, at Versailles — everywhere. They
were looked upon as an event. " Women of thirty
are now obliged to renounce plumes, flowers, and
pink," writes Mme. Oberkirch in her journal on
February 3, 1786. She had just been present at a
conversation in the Duchess of Orleans's house, where
the Queen's reforms had been the only topic.

From that date velvet poufs were Marie- Antoinette's
habitual head-dress. They varied in shape and in
colour to match her dresses. The pictures of Mme.
Vig^e-Lebrun have preserved their image for us.
That artist can have had no love for Mile. Bertin's
art ; she was much too fond of simple draperies and
graceful negligence, and it must have been against
her will that she painted the Queen thus decked out
instead of bareheaded and according to her own
taste. She succeeded in doing this in the case
of the Duchesse d' Orleans, but not with Marie-
Antoinette.

We find the following lines in her memoirs : '' I
could not bear powder — I persuaded the beautiful
Duchesse de Grammont-Caderousse to let me paint
her without it (portrait of 1789); her hair was as
black as ebony ; I parted it on the forehead and
arranged it in irregular curls. After the sitting,
which lasted till dinner-time, she went to the theatre

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 165

as she was. Such a pretty woman ought to set the
fashion ; it spread slowly, but at last became general.
This reminds me that, when I painted the Queen in
1786, I begged her to dispense with powder and part
her hair on the forehead. ' I shall be the last to
adopt that fashion,' said the Queen, laughing ; ' I will
not have it said that I invented it to hide my high
forehead.' " *

The result may have been very displeasing to
Mme. Vigee-Lebrun, but it is not so to us. The will
of Marie-Antoinette forced Mme. Vig6e-Lebrun to
paint, not fancy portraits, but historical portraits,
and to depict with her brush the official fashions and
velvet 'poufs of the Rue de Richelieu. What remark-
able documents Mme. Vigee-Lebrun would have left
to posterity if she had sacrificed her artistic tastes,
and always represented her sitters in their customary
habiliments ! If, for example, instead of arranging
the head-dress of the Duchesse d'Orleans to please
herself, she had painted her with the erection we
have described, which included a nurse, a parrot, and
a little negro.

However, the great artist was obliged to bow to
the Queen's wishes in spite of her own taste, and
thus painting was forced to do homage to the talent
of Rose Bertin, celebrated at the same time by the
poet Delille in his poem " L' Imagination," the open-
ing verses of which are also dated 1786.

The following passage in Canto III. has a thinly

* " Souvenirs de Mme. Vigee-Lebrun,'" t. i., p. 37.

166 EOSE BERTIN

veiled allusion to the modiste herself, when, in
speaking of the fashion, the poet exclaims :

" La baguette a la main, voyez-la dans Paris,
Arbitre des succes, des moeurs et des ecrits,
Exercer son empire elegamment futile;
Et, tandis qu''oubUant leur rudesse indocile,
Les metaux les plus durs, Tacier, Tor et Targent,
Sous mille aspects divers suivent son gout changeant,
Et la gaze, et le lin, plus fragile merveille,
Dedaigneux aujourd'' hui des formes de la veille,
Inconstants comme Pair, et comme lui legers,
Vont meler notre luxe aux luxes etrangers ;
Ainsi, de la parure, aimable souveraine.
Par la mode du moins, la France est encore reine ;
Et jusqu'au fond du nord portant nos gouts divers,
Le mannequin despote asservit Tunivers."

The allusion is transparent. It points to the
famous doll which Rose Bertin dressed and sent to
Paris, St. Petersburg, and other towns, to demonstrate
the latest novelties of her establishment.

But another passage of Delille's poem more par-
ticularly celebrates the talents of Mile. Bertin :

" Dans un am as de tissus precieux
Quand Bertin fait briller son gout industrieux,
L'etoffe obeissante en cent formes se joue,
Se developpe en schall, en ceinture se none ;
Du pinceau son aiguille emprunte les couleurs,
Brille de diamants, se nuance de fleurs.
En longs replis flottants fait ondoyer sa moire,
Donne un voile a Tamour, un echarpe a la gloire,
Ou, plus ambitieuse en son brillant essor,
Sur Paimable Vaudchamp va s'embellir encore."

MARIE \DEL\IDE DE FRANCE

iM 1--, Ai.:.::.. > •:

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 167

Delille, while singing the praises of Mile. Bertin,
finds occasion at the same time of praising the
charms of the lady whom he had taken for com-
panion, and in whom we recognize one of the
modiste's new clients, whom the chances o£ a rather
stormy life had brought from Lorraine.

This Jeanne Vaudchamp was born at Saint-Die
about 1765. She left that town and came to Paris,
where she found it difficult to gain a living, having
no other means of earning her bread than by playing
the guitar.

" She was doing this one day," says Michaud,
" adding a doubtless seductive dance to her music,
between the columns of the Louvre and the fa(^ade
of Saint-Germain I'Auxerrois, when Delille happened
to pass that way. It was in 1786. He spoke to
her, and the next day Jeanne Vaudchamp crossed
the threshold of the College de France to finish at
her leisure the conversation with the Academician
begun the evening before. The conversation was
renewed before the end of the week. A few days
later the indefatigable conversationalist returned once
more, and never came out again, except from time to
time as from her own house. In that short space
she had won the freedom of the college : the poet
had obtained permission to engage her as his house-
keeper, for he was fairly well off."

Such was the customer whose name the poet, who
was called the French Virgil, put side by side with
that of the modiste of the Rue Richelieu.

168 ROSE BERTIN

About that time (1786) Mile. Bertin took a
journey to Brittany, or, at least, she went as far
as Rennes.

Nothing particular occurred upon the journey, but
on her way back she had a travelling companion, a
young man who had just been appointed sub-lieuten-
ant in the army of Navarre, then in garrison at
Cambrai.

This young man, just beginning his ca^^eer, and
on his way to join his regiment, was the Chevalier
de Chateaubriand ; he relates himself how he journeyed
from Rennes to Paris tete-a-tete with Rose Bertin.
He had just arrived from Combourg, and put up at
the house of a relation at Rennes. " He announced
joyfully," says Chateaubriand, *' that a lady of his
acquaintance on her way to Paris had a vacant place
in her carriage, and that he was sure he could per-
suade her to let me travel with her." The young
man had never taken any notice of a woman, except
his fourth sister, Lucile, of whom he was very fond.
He painted this sister in a timid attitude, dressed in an
ill-fitting dress, an iron necklace threaded with brown
velvet round her neck, and a very dowdy black toque
on her head. He must have felt extremely awkward
when he found himself in the company o£ the smart
Parisian modiste ; indeed, he tells us as much. " I
accepted," he says, " cursing the officiousness of my
kinsman. Pie arranged the matter, and introduced
me to my travelling companion, a dealer in fashions,
very sprightly and free-and-easy, who burst out

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 169

laughing when she saw me. The carriage came at
midnight, and we set out.

" I now found myself in a post-chaise alone with a
woman at dead of night. I who had never looked at
a woman without blushing, how could I descend from
the height of my dreams to this frightful reality ? I
did not know where I was ; I squeezed myself into
the corner of the carriage for fear of touching Mile.
Rose's dress. When she spoke to me, I stammered in
confusion and could make no answer ; she was obliged
to pay the postilion and see to everything, for I was
perfectly useless. At daybreak she stared in fresh
amazement at the idiot whom she had suffered to be
foisted upon her.

^' As the aspect of the landscape changed, and I
could no longer recognize the dress and accent of the
Breton peasant, I fell into the deepest dejection, which
increased the contempt of Mile. Rose. I perceived her
opinion of me, and this first contact with the world
made an impression upon me which time has never
quite effaced. I was born shy, but unashamed ; I
had the modesty of my age, but not its embarrass-
ment. When I perceived that my best side made me
ridiculous, my shyness became an insurmountable
timidity. I could not say one word ; I felt that I
had something to hide, and that that something was
a virtue ; I made up my mind to hide my true self,
so as to carry my innocence in peace.

" We were approaching Paris. Coming down from
Saint-Cyr, I was struck by the width of the roads

170 EOSE BERTIN

and the regularity of the plantations. Soon we
reached Versailles ; the orangery with it marble stair-
cases filled me with wonder. The success of the
American War had brought back the triumphs of the
chateau of Louis XIV., the Queen reigned there in
the splendour of her youth and beauty ; the throne,
so near its downfall, had never seemed so firm, and I,
an obscure wayfarer, was destined to outlive this
pomp, and to see the woods of Trianon as deserted as
the forests I had just left behind."

Some day in her retreat at Epinay, Mile. Kose may
have been forced, in regretful melancholy, to make
the same reflections as this young man who once
rode with her along the highways of Brittany. Is
not all this worthy to be repeated here? It is simple,
beautiful, and full of poetry. That young man in
his sensitive soul must have brooded long before he
wrote these lines in which he analyzes himself with
as much frankness as there is truth and feeling in his
description of what he saw ; truly this was a mar-
vellous idiot !

"At last we entered Paris," he continues. " I saw
mockery on every face, and, like the gentleman from
Perigord, I thought that everyone was looking at me
to make fun of me. Mile. Rose drove to the Hotel
de I'Europe in the Rue du Mail, and made haste to
get rid of her idiot. I had scarcely got out of the
carriage, when she said to the porter : ' Give this
gentleman a room — your servant,' she added, and

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 171

made me an abrupt curtsy. I never saw Mile. Rose
again."

Rose Bertin, with her abrupt curtsy, little thought
that she was taking leave of a future Minister of State,
Ambassador, and peer of France. However, she showed
some pity for the young provincial, and did not
forsake him on the spot. " Yet Mile. Rose had pity
on the idiot ; she had procured my brother's address
in Rennes, and let him know that I had arrived in
Paris," says Chateaubriand.

It must be admitted that Mile. Rose was well
calculated to overwhelm a young provincial of eighteen
with shyness. She was born bold and Parisian in her
wicker cradle at Abbeville. Yet the young man just
arriving in the capital, with his shy and awkward
manner, was the rising star still hidden in the mists
of the horizon, and Rose's star, which had dazzled
the world from Spain to Russia and from France to
Portugal^ and still shed upon her the light of an
undisputed reputation, was in the spring of 1783 on
the eve of eclipse and very near its fall.

Rose Bertin began to experience commercial mis-
fortunes. Mile. Picot had robbed her of some of her
customers ; yet the Queen still patronized her, and
it was still the correct thing to employ Her Majesty's
modiste. Her custom was still large enough to enable
her to carry on her business with brilliance, if other
causes had not increased her business difficulties.
There was still the same coming and going before her
door, carriages of great ladies still streamed along the

172 ROSE BERTIN

Rue de Richelieu, and waited long in the neighbour-
hood of her shop. Mme. Oberkirch writes on March 20,
1786: *' We saw Mile. Bertin, who condescended"
— the word is underlined — " to receive us herself. She
consented to make a bonnet of a new fashion for the
Dachesse de Bourbon, on condition that she would
not lend it to anyone." Rose Bertin condescended
and consented, because she knew very well that in the
moments of difficulty which lay before her it was
necessary to show herself amiable and obliging to
good clients, and the Duchesse de Bourbon was one
who paid w^ell.

But though Rose Bertin kept her accounts with
great care, she was not so vigilant in defending her
own interests, and took no trouble to recover what
was due to her.* We find a proof of her negligence
in the report t of a judgment given in favour of a
certain Sieur Boullan, a merchant of Brussels, who
claimed 876 livres 15 s. from Mile. Bertin for
imitation pearls supplied to her.

She pleaded that she had only ordered samples, and
that the goods had only been sent on approval, but
could not produce the letter which would have proved
her statement. Yet the case was not unfavourable
for her, and her opponent defended himself very feebly.
The Judges perceived that there had been negligence

*' Collection de M. J. Doucet. Dossier de la succession
de Rose Bertin (No. 9) ; lettre de Grangeret avocat.

t Archives Municipales de Paris : Rapports d'Arbitres,
carton 15.

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 173

on both sides, and several times summoned the parties
to appear before them for conciliation. The Sieur
Bouvier, representing Boullan, did not fail to put in
an appearance ; but, says the report, ^^ whether Mile.
Bertin has Imsiness which prevents her from sparing
a few moments to attend to the interests of her
creditors, or whether she has private reasons into
which we cannot and need not inquire, she has
constantly refused to appear (.szV;)." The result was
that the report advised the Judges to give judgment
against her for 700 livres, in favour of Boullan, the
amount of his claim being reduced on account of the
defective quality of the pearls supplied by him.

It was certainly negligent on the part of Mile.
Bertin not to defend herself better in a case which,
at first sight, seemed likely to go against her
opponent.

Moreover, as we have been able to prove, she took
no steps to recover what was due to her, and let
debts accumulate for years, so that many wei^e lost to
her for ever.

Thus, on the one hand she kept up an establishment
which she could not bring herself to curtail. She
thought herself obliged to keep up a certain
api^earance at Court The Queen's modiste could not
carry her own cardboard boxes, nor go to Versailles
in a hired carriage ; she kept a numerous staff, which
with her workwomen brought the general expenses
of her business to a high sum. On the other hand
the great ladies overwhelmed her with orders, which

174 ROSE BERTIN

swallowed up her working capital, and paid her badly
after endless annoyance and apj^lications, and some-
times did not pay at all.

This was a dangerous situation, wliich might well
have led straight to the Court of Bankruptcy. How-
ever this maybe, it is certain that in January, 1787, a
rumour spread everywhere that she had sent in her
bankruptcy papers. The news was received with
taunts and jeers, to which she was very sensitive.
People revenged themselves for the snubs and rebuffs
they had suffered, and, to speak truly, the insolence
which she had shown on many occasions. Baroness
Oberkirch heard of it as she was passing through
Strasburg, and wrote these lines in her memoirs :
^' Mile. Bertin, so haughty, arrogant, and even insolent,
who collaborated with Her Majesty ; Mile. Bertin,
who headed her bills in large type : Supplier of
Fashions to the Queen — Mile. Bertin has just gone
bankrupt. It is true that this is no plebeian bankruptcy :
it is the bankruptcy of a great lady — two millions !
That is something for a dealer in chiffons. The
petites mattresses are in despair ; who can they turn
to now ? Who will twist a pouff Who will drape a
toque ? Who will invent a n^^w juste f We are assured
that Mile. Bertin will yield to these tears, and will
continue her business. They say also that she has
been ungrateful to the Queen, and that otherwise Her
Majesty would not have forsaken her in her mis-
fortune, although she is occupied with sad things and
more important interests."

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 175

Well, really ! Mme. Oberkirch did not love Rose
Bertin ; her manners and absurdities had annoyed her,
as we know, but certainly the total of her bills had
something to do with it. Mme. Oberkirch was half
German, and not exactly prodigal with her money.

As to what the Baroness says of Rose's ingratitude
to the Queen, it is not to be explained, and difficult
to understand what can have occasioned it. The
Queen may have been " occupied with sad things
and more important interests " ; the painful business
of the necklace, still quite recent, may well have
caused her much anxiety ; but Rose Bertin was
much too politic and too wide-awake to offend such
a client, to whom she owed all her other custom.

Rose Bertin had too often cavalierly treated clients
whom it would have been wiser to receive with
deference and thought of the morrow. She had
offended too many people for her disaster not to be
a signal for the vengeance of many tongues, only too
eager to wag at her expense.

The report of her bankruptcy spread quickly ; as
we have just seen, it was the theme of gossip in
Strasburg society, where Mme. Oberkirch happened
to be at the time. But it is worthy of note that
Mme. de Campan does not mention it in her
memoirs, and she had a better oj^portunity than
anyone of being the first to hear of it.

On Sunday, January 28, Rose went to Versailles,
and was not admitted to the Queen's presence.

Such a piece of news at such a moment was, as

176 ROSE BERTIN

we may well imagine, immediately spread abroad
and commented upon. The author of the " Memoires
Secrets " echoes the popular rumours when he writes :
" Her Majesty would not see her, and she was refused
admittance to the royal apartments, which puts the
last touch to her downfall."

If Rose Bertin at the befj^innino^ of 1787 had some
trouble in extricating herself from her difficulties,
and if the rumour spread that she was bankrupt,
it is not surprising that it should have been con-
sidered quite a natural thing. Had not the greatest
names in Parisian commerce been in the same uncom-
fortable position ? Had not Pagelle, the fashionable
modiste at the end of the reign of Louis XY.,
in whose establishment Rose had made her d^but,
and Gouttiere — the famous Goutti^re — both gone
bankrupt ? Sensational bankruptcies occurred every
moment, both in the business world and among the
nobility. Besides the Prince de Gu^mdn^, whom
we have already mentioned, the Sieur Bourboulon,
treasurer to the Comte and Comtesse d'Artois, went
bankrupt in March, 1787, for a sum of five millions.
The bankruptcy of the Sieur de Villerange, Intendant
of Posts and Relays, occurred about the same time ;
and bankruptcies great and small took place every
day. Yet in the Archives de la Seine, where all
the papers relating to the bankruptcies of that time
are preserved, there is not a single document or the
slightest trace of the bankruptcy of Rose Bertin.

What, then, is the meaning of all the fuss about

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 177

the bankruptcy of the great modiste ? Was it a
trick ? Some of her contemporaries believed that
it was originated by Rose herself, and that she
skilfully spread the report in order to draw the
public attention and recover the sums due to her
from the Court.

The Parisian bookseller, I. P. Hardy, who kept a
journal of the events of the day, wrote on January 31,
1787, under the title of "Pretended Bankruptcy of
Mile. Bertin, Dealer in Fashions " :

" We heard to-day that Mile. Bertin, fashion-dealer
to the Queen, having a great vogue in the Rue
Saint-Honor^ where she occupied a magnificent shop
under the sign of ' La Corbeille Galante,' had given
in her statement of bankruptcy, according to which,
if public rumour is to be believed, her debts amounted
to three millions, two millions of which, it was
alleged were due to her from a person whom she
could not name for some indefinite period. It was
said that this Mile. Bertin was in the habit of making
some sort of scandal when the credit given by her
to the Court had reached a certain sum, in order
to recover some of her money, and that on this
particular occasion she immediately received an order
for 400,000 livres upon the Royal Treasury."

We remark that the bookseller, who probably took
no interest in chiffons, did not know that Rose
Bertin had left the Rue Saint-Honore more than three
years before, and that her sign had never been the
" Corbeille Galante," but the '^ Grand-Mogol."

178 ROSE BERTIN

This bankruptcy, therefore, was only a comedy
which Rose Bertin was quite clever enough to carry
out. We have just seen that many strongly suspected
her of it. As to her alleged allusion to the person
who owed her two millions, given her title of '' modiste
to the Queen," and the magnitude of the debt, it was
so transparent that it could not fail to cause the
public to accuse Marie- Antoinette of having once
more fallen into wild extravagance. This report,
reaching the ears of the Queen, explains the other
report of Rose's disgrace, and why she was refused
admittance.

Rose was quite capable of defending herself, and
would not fear to seek an explanation. Such an
underhand plot against the Queen would have been
very risky, and the least the modiste could have got
out of it would have been the payment and definite
closing of her account.

Yet we have proof that she continued to supply
Marie- Antoinette. She must therefore have suc-
ceeded in persuading her that she had nothing to do
with the sensation caused by this aflTair, and that it
must have have been the work of those whose one
aim was to discredit the Queen, and from whom she
nad suffered so much already.

If Rose Bertin had really been treated by Marie-
Antoinette as was re^Dorted, there can be no doubt
that her shop would immediately have been deserted
by all who had even the most distant connection with
the Court.

THE END OF ECCENTRICITIES 179

Yet here are the names of some of the customers
who frequented it in 1787, with the dates on which
goods were delivered to them : Baron de Rozay and
Comtesse de Caradeus, March 13 ; Mme. Augier,
March 20. It must be noted that Mme. Augier,
sister of Mme. Campan, was personally attached to
the Court as Gent! ewoman-in- Waiting. This was
the same Mme. Augier who threw herself out of
window in the Tuileries, and was killed, on August 20,
1792. She had two daughters, afterwards the Mar^chale
Ney and Mme. de Broc.

We may also mention the Vicomtesse de Boulain-
villiers, April 7, and M. des Entelles, April 16, On
May 5 Rose delivered a presentation dress for the
Marquise de Nesles to the Baronne de Serant, at the
Palais-Bourbon, the price of which was 2,000 livres.
On May 20 she supplied Mile. Dillon with a wedding-
bonnet costing 39 livres.

The Marquise de Guitry, June 15 ; the Marquise
d'Agoult, June 29 ; Comte de Custine, July 22 ; and
Comtesse de Laage, who was Maid of Honour to the
Princesse de Lamballe, August 10, also appear on
Rose's books in 1787. Also the Comtesse de Sparre,
for whom she made a presentation dress on Septem-
ber 12, which cost 3,000 livres.

Finally we will mention an order for a christening
outfit costing 1,200 livres, given by the Baron de Stael,
on behalf of the Queen of Sweden.

Nevertheless her best days were over.

CHAPTER V

THE LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY — DECLINE OF
BUSINESS — ROSE BERTIN's HOUSE PROPERTY

(1787-1792)

The public Exchequer was in such a state, owing to
the bad administration of Calonne, that he received
orders to resign on April 8, 1787. When Marie-
Antoinette grasped the situation, she expressed " her
regret that she had not known earlier of the disastrous
state of the finances of the kingdom, for then she
would not have indulged her taste for acquisitions
and expenditure which she had thought permissible."*
Her economies in dress began to make themselves
felt in 1788. In 1787 the Comtesse d'Ossun had
been obliged to ask for an order of 97,187 livres "to
add to the sum of 120,000 livres taken from the sum
allowed for the upkeep of the Queen's Household, to
make up the sum of 217,187 livres to which the
expense of the Queen's wardrobe had amounted during

the year/'t

In 1788 the supplementary credit required for the

* " Memoires Secrets."
t Archives Nationales, 0\ 3,792.
180

M \IUK-TIIEI{KSK-(IIAI{L()TTE, DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XVI.

(Madame Kuj'ale)

Tu face page l.sO

LAST YEARS OF THE MONAKCHY 181

purpose was no more than 70,721 livres, and the
total expenditure on that score was 190,721 livres.

On August 9 an edict was issued concerning the
economies to be effected in the expenses of the Crown,
Article 7 stated : " The reform operated in the Queen's
Household amounts to 900,000 livres/'

The situation being thus, it is evident that Rose
could not continue to draw the same profit from the
Court as in preceding years. She had to think of
modifying her own expenditure, though she did not
immediately feel the consequences of these new
measures.

The dealers of Paris vied with each other in
ingenuity to attract custom. Not only did they
allow unlimited credit — often finding to their cost
what this led to — but they were at their wits' end to
invent ways of displaying their goods, and tempting
customers to spend. The shops, formerly dark and
badly lighted, had become little salo7iSy with looking-
glasses reflecting a profusion of lights, and decorated
with panels rich with gilding. All this might seem
little enough to us nowadays, with our modern pro-
gress, but we must not forget that in the days of
Louis XVI. the world had not got beyond candles,
and that a shop in the Rue Richelieu or Saint-Honore
represented at that time all that commercial luxury
could provide in order to dazzle customers.

But Rose Bertin did not leave the neighbourhood
of the Palais- Royal, which was the centre of Parisian
life ; and in spite of her reverses, and in spite of all

182 ROSE BERTIN

gossip to the contrary, she still had the custom of
Marie- Antoinette.

A portrait of the Queen painted in this very year
of 1787, by Mme. Vigee-Lebrun, represents her in
a pouf of red velvet trimmed with fur in Rose's style,
a scarf of gauze edged with lace, and a bunch of white
feathers. Mme. Vis^ee-Lebrun in her '' Souvenirs"
gives the following details concerning this portrait,
which is now in the Palace of Versailles :

"The last sitting which I had from Her Majesty
was at Trianon, when I painted her head for my
large picture of her and her children. I remember
that the Baron de Breteuil, then in the Ministry, was
present during the sitting, and never ceased talking
scandal about all the Court ladies. . . . After I had
painted the head, and made separate studies of the
first Dauphin, Madame Royale, and the Due de Nor-
mandie, I set about painting my picture, to which
I attached great importance, and I finished it in time
for the Salon of 1787. After the Salon my picture
was placed in one of the rooms in the Chateau de
Versailles, and the Queen had always to pass it in
going to Mass and in returning. When the Dauphin
died in 1789, the sight of the picture reminded her
so vividly of her cruel loss that she could not pass
through that room without shedding tears. She
gave an order to M. d'Angevilliers (Minister of Arts
and Director of the Royal Buildings) to have the
picture removed ; but, with'^ her usual graciousness,
she was careful to let me know of it at once, and

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 183

to explain the reason for this removal. I owe the
j)reservation of my picture to this feeling of the
Queen's, for when the fish- wives and roughs came
to Versailles shortly afterwards, in search of Their
Majesties, they would certainly have cut it to pieces,
as they did the Queen's bed, which was pierced
through and through."

It is also thanks to this that one of Mile. Bertin's
creations remains to us, and it is one of peculiar
interest. We know that, though Rose was chiefly
celebrated for hats and bonnets, complete costumes
were also made in her workrooms. There is no
need to examine Mme. Vig^e-Lebrun's picture very
closely to see that the style of the Queen's dress and
bodice is the same as that of the pouf which she
wears.

Marie-Antoinette had definitely adopted that style
of head-dress. " It was her favourite diadem," says
Bouilly, who, relating his presentation to the Queen,
tells us that she wore a black velvet poiif on that
occasion. It was one of the last fashions which she
adopted before a prisoner's cap became her only
wear.

It was still Rose Bertin who made some of the
head-dresses with which the Queen covered the hair
whitened by the anguish of her royal agony.

No, the Queen had not withdrawn her confidence
from her modiste; and if on one occasion she may
have suspected her intentions and appeared to dis-
trust her, owing to some popular gossip, this is quite

184 ROSE BERTIN

understandable at a time when her heart was wounded
by the perfidious insinuations and continual outrages
with which her enemies pursued her. These had
gradually made her so unpopular that the famous
picture above mentioned, in which Mme. Vigee-
Lebrun has depicted her surrounded by her children,
was not exhibited at the opening of the Salon in
August, 1787, but only a few days later, so great
was the fear that it might be outraged by the
populace.

In 1788 Mme. Vigee-Lebrun painted a last portrait
of the Queen for the Baron de Breteuil. As we learn
from the preceding paragraphs, the Queen did not
sit for this portrait, and the artist used drawings
which she had by her. The bodice and fouf, which
are of blue velvet, are very much of the same cut as
those in the large portrait exhibited in the Salon of
1787, but the_p6>^^/is not trimmed with fur.

The Queen was now disheartened, and her outlook
on life was changed. In this year of 1787 every-
thing conspired to make her forget pleasure and
renounce those things which had formerly occupied her
mind. In July, when she lost her youngest daughter,
little Princesse Marie - Sophie - Helene- Beatrix, at the
age of eleven months, she hastened to take refuge
in the peace of Trianon, calling Mme. Elizabeth to
her side in a letter full of grief. " We will weep
together," she says, ^' over the death of my little
angel. I need all your heart to comfort mine."

The reign of frills and futility was at an end, and

LAST YEAES OF THE MONARCHY 185

the star of Mile. Bertin was on the wane. She was
a victim of circumstances, like many others.

Trade felt the eiFects of the events of the last few
years. We may get some idea of this from the
following extract from the Journal Politique or
Gazette des Gazettes published at Bouillon in the
last fortnight of September, 1789 :

'* The dealers of Paris are beginning to complain
that they have no sale for their goods, and can get no
credit from the manufacturers. This is, unfortunately,
but too true. Another no less regrettable fact is that
many noblemen are reducing their households ; some
have dismissed as many as forty of their servants."

At such a time, when the noble and wealthy were
reducing their expenditure on every side, dealers in
luxuries, such as our modiste, could not hope to
prosper.

She seemed, moreover, to be pursued by the malice
of the public, which could not fail to excite her
natural irritability to the highest pitch.

As she was returning from England, where she
went fairly often, and where she possessed a pied d
terre^ a report was circulated that she had been
arrested and taken to the Bastille. The bookseller
Hardy reports this rumour on January 24, 1788,
under the following title : " Miles. Bertin and Lenoir
said to be taken to the Bastille. Why ?" which shows
that he had not much faith in this fresh adventure
attributed to Rose, and he contents himself with
commenting on it as follows :

186 ROSE BERTIN

" A report was current that Miles. Bertin and
Lenoir, fashion-dealers to the Queen, had been arrested
and taken to the Bastille, the former on her way back
from London, where she had ostensibly been to
purchase ribbons, gauzes, and other material of her
trade, but that she had brought back with them a
number of copies of certain publications containing
fierce attacks upon Her Majesty, which she had been
requested in England to take charge of by Mme. de
Lamotte, with whom she had been imprudent enough
to have an interview, in order to smuggle them into
France and distribute them there. Secret denuncia-
tion before her arrival in the capital had caused the
complete collapse of this plan. It was also alleged
that the detention of a bookseller lately arrested in the
Rue de la Barillerie had some connection with this
affair of Miles. Bertin and Lenoir"*

Hardy again calls Mile. Bertin " fashion- dealer to
the Queen," a proof that the incidents of a year ago,
with regard to her pretended bankruptcy, had not
altered her position of official modiste to the Court.

The story of Mile. Bertin's arrest was nothing but
pure invention. Yet there is no smoke without fire.
The clandestine importation of Mme. de Lamotte's
memoir had actually occurred. The police had
really laid hands upon the person who had under-
taken to smuggle it into France. But that person
was neither Mile. Bertin nor Mile. Lenoir, but
another fashion-dealer called Henriette Sando, who
* Bibl. Nat., MS. Franvais 6,686.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 187

lived at No. 5, Rue des Haudriettes, at the sign of
Au Gout de la Cour, Slie was arrested under the
name of Comtesse Anselme. She was on good terms
with several ladies of the Court. The author of " La
Bastille devoile^ " says : " Many letters from these
ladies were found among her papers, full o£ ex-
pressions of affection : ' Come and see me, dear
heart ; I will send you my carriage. Would you like to
go to the theatre ? I will lend you my box.' The
motive of these little attentions was the amount due
to her, which they endeavoured to pay with com-
pliments rather than money." A person called
Mangin who was imprisoned with her was only her
lady's-maid. They were both released three months
after their arrest, on April, 8, 1788.

The memoir of Mme. de Lamotte, the cause of all
this commotion, was very rare at that time, but has
become common enough since. Mme. Campan says
that she saw a copy in the Queen's possession, in
manuscript, which had been brought from London,
with corrections in the handwriting of M. de Calonne,
in the places where Mme. de Lamotte's ignorance
of Court usages had led her into the grossest errors.

All this time the Queen continued her efforts to
reduce her expenditure. On January 16, 1788, an
edict was issued retrenching 1,206,600 livres in the
expenses o£ her household. It was remarked that
Marie- Antoinette inclined more and more to sim-
plicity. On June 23, on the occasion of a visit to
the Invalides, it was reported that her extremely

188 ROSE BERTIN

modest costume had formed a striking contrast with
those of Madame Royale, and Mme. Elizabeth, who
wore costumes of ceremony, as the bookseller Hardy
does not fail to relate in his memoirs.

However, Rose still had business in nearly every
part of Europe, though on a lesser scale than before.
She sent a bonnet a Vordre de la Jarretiere to an
English customer. She made the dresses of the
Duchess Wilrtemburg, who had been the Duke's
mistress, under the name of Countess Hohenheim, for
many years before the Duke married her in 1786.
Marie- Antoinette mentions her in a letter to Marie-
Theresa of Februar}^ 27, 1776, saying that the Duke
" drags his mistress everywhere, a not very present-
able Countess." Rose also supplied the wedding
outfit of Mile, de Luxembourg when she married
M. de Cadaval, as well as Mme. de Luxembourg's
dress for the ceremony. Mile, de Luxembourg's
rohe d' accord cost 1,359 livres ; the wedding dress (a
Turkish robe) cost 4,556 livres, of which 980 fell to the
dressmaker ; the rohe de kndemain cost 1,593 livres,
of which the dressmaker had 84 ; and jpoufsy toquets,
and straw hats, ranging from 39 to 200 livres.

And as receptions were still held in high society,
the modiste had still to supply ball dresses. A ball
dress for Mme. de Rochefort delivered in February
cost 637 livres.

Mile. Rose's financial situation, though evidently
not so brilliant as it had been, must still have been
fairly good at this time, for in the course of the years

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 189

1788 and 1789 she invested a considerable amount
of capital in house property in Paris.

On February 23, 1788, she bought a house in the
Rue du Mail for a sum of 287,700 livres.* This
house was No. 43, situated towards the middle of the
street, now No. 27, and was occupied by the Bureau
General de Transport, and was known as the Hotel des
Chiens. This Bureau de Transport was a company
authorized to transport bales, packets, furniture, and
merchandise, from one part of Paris to another, some-
thing like the parcel delivery service of our own
days. The " Guide des Amateurs et des Etrangers
Yoyageurs a Paris," published in 1787, gives the
following information concerning this agency :

" Foreigners and provincials sending their luggage
or merchandise in advance, if they have not decided
where they will lodge, may, if they send a letter of
advice, address their packages direct to M. Y. de
Yallon, General Director of the Bureau de Transport
Int^rieur de Paris, Rue du Mail, No. 43."

This explains why Rose Bertin, hampered by the shy
and awkward young provincial Chateaubriand, when
she arrived with him from Rennes, took him straight
to the Rue dii Mail ; she could show him the place
where he had to apply for his luggage, within a
stone's throw of his hotel.

The next year Rose bought another important
piece of house property in the Rue de Richelieu.

* Archives de la Seine : Minutes des Lettres de Ratifica-
tions, No. 2,369.

190 ROSE BERTIN

On January 27, 1789, M. Bochart de Saron was
appointed first President of the Parliament, and in
virtue of that office was entitled to a lodging in the
palace. He left his house in the Rue de Richelieu,
therefore, and put it up for sale. This house was
built about 1640 by Charles de Pradine ; it is now
No/ 26. In 1825 it was purchased by the celebrated
actor Charles Gabriel Potier, who gave his name to
the Passage Potier which runs through the house,
and gives access to the Rue de Montpensier from the
Rue de Richelieu. * Rose Bertin bought this house
on April 24, 1789, for the sum of 180,000 livres.
The deed of sale runs :

" Sale before Maitre De la Cour, notary of Paris,
April 24, 1789.

" By Monseigneur Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard- Bochart
de Saron, first President of the Parliament of Paris,
residing in the hotel of the First Presidency, in the
enclosure of the palace.

'* To Demoiselle Marie- Jeanne Bertin, fashion -
dealer to the Queen, residing in Paris, Rue de
Richelieu . . ."

This official document again uses the title " fashion-
dealer to the Queen," claimed by the purchaser. This
alone, if we had no other proofs, should be sufficient

* Potier made his debut at the theatre founded by Beau-
rivage in the Boulevard du Temple, under the name of
Theatre des Associes, and which was afterwards called the
Theatre sans Pretention under Prevost's management in
1799.

\^^'

'm*:>

2
A

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 191

to invalidate the malicious rumours on the subject
which had been current for two years.

Thus Rose Bertin moved once more, and transferred
her business premises from M. de Maussion's house
to that which she had just purchased from President
Bochart de Saron.

*' The frontage of her shop, with its three Roman
arcades in the Louis XVL style, have been preserved
for us by the engraver's art, although there was
nothing remarkable about it."*

In the month of August following she was jBnally
settled in the house; but the purchase-money was
not paid immediately, and when the property of
Bochart de Saron was sequestrated in 1793, she
was still his debtor for about 100,000 livres. To
free herself from this debt she executed a deed which
is mentioned in the dossier of the sequestration
preserved in the Archives,! the terms of which are
as follows ;

*' I the undersigned, Director of the Agence des
Droits d'Enregistrement et Domanies Nationaux et
Rdunis, charged with the collection of the debts due to
emigres^ acknowledge receipt from Citizen Duchatel,
head of the Bureau de I'Actif et du Passif des
Emigres, of a contract of sale by Jean-Baptiste-
Gaspard Bochart de Saron, dead by the last law in
Paris, Rue , Section , to Marie-Jeanne Bertin,

^ Vitu, "La Maison Mortuaire de Moliere;' Paris, 1880.
f Archives Nationales, Serie T, 1,604, No. 53.

192 ROSE BERTIN

of a house situated in Rue de la Loi, charged with a
perpetual annuity of 4,400 livres to the said Bochart,
for the rest of the purchase-money of the said house.
'' Paris, the 28th Prairial in the year II. of the
one and indivisible French Republic.

" (Signed) Gentil."

Events moved quickly at that time. Yet in the
first months of 1789 there was nothing to indicate
the magnitude of the impending changes. *' Yet for
several months past flashes of lightning had been
seen, which were the precursors of the storm," writes
Comte Louis -Philippe de Segur, "but no one foresaw
it. It was thought that salutary reforms would put
an end to the temporary difficulties of our govern-
ment. It was an epoch of illusions." However,
several foreigners thought it prudent to leave France,
as appears from the following lines of a letter which
Countess Razoumowsky wrote to Rose Bertin from
Geneva on January 10, 1789 : ''Your troubles in
Paris have cruelly driven me from your kingdom,
for which I am sorry, but I hope that I shall soon be
able to return."* The Countess ends with friendly
messages from her husband to Mile. Bertin. The
troubles were not serious as yet.

So far there was no change in the routine of the
Court, where all the usual ceremonies were still
observed. Thus on January 20, 1789, Rose supplied
the Dowager Duchess of Harcourt with a Court dress

* Collection J. Doucet, Rose Berlin, Dossier No. 529 bis.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 193

for tlie Duchesse de Croye, who was to be presented
to the Queen.*

Such was the heedlessness in certam circles that
people went on laughing and enjoying themselves as
if no danger menaced them, in spite of the daily
warnings of political events, newspapers, and popular
rumours. " One of the most fashionable salons in
which the young women most delighted was that of
Lady Kerry," writes Mme. de Laage in her memoirs ;
'' the merry band made it their rendezvous twice a
week to play at creps and cavagnole.'' These were some
of the customers who were still faithful to Rose Bertin
— Lady Kerry was one and so was the Comtesse de
Laage — and between the games they still discussed
the novelties of fashion, and planned pretty or daring
hats to deck heads which were soon to be severed by
the axe of the dawning Revolution.

There were balls and entertainments on every side.
At the beginning of April the Marquise de Menou
gave a brilliant ball. The Comtesse de Laage, whose
taste inclined to simplicity, asks herself whether she
can pass unnoticed, " among ladies in diamond neck-
laces and dresses wreathed with garlands of flowers,
in a simple white dress, a string of pearls, a single
large white plume, and a neckband of black velvet."
A week later the Duke of Dorset gave a ball to
celebrate the recovery of George III., King of England,!

* Collection Doucet, Dossier No. 208.
t George IH. suffered the first attack of the mental
affliction, which continued to the end of his life, in the

194 ROSE BERTIN

and Mme. de Laage appeared in the same costume
with two additional plumes on her head.

Finally the States-General were convoked, and
the procession of the Three Orders took place at
Versailles on May 4. Mme. de Laage had lent her
presentation dress to Mme. de Polastron ; she writes
that it " shone" that day as good as new among the
state dresses made for the occasion, many of which
had also been made in Rose's workrooms.

She gives us also a brief description of the costume
worn by Marie- Antoinette on the morrow (May 5) :
" The Queen was beautifully dressed : a single band
of diamonds, with her fine heron's plume, a violet
dress, and white skirt in silver tissue. The King
wore the Regent in his hat."

The fall of the Bastille really marked the beginning
of a new era for politics and fashions. All was over
with poufs and bonnets a la lever de la Reiney with
luxury and originality in dress. Bonnets a la Bastille
were worn adorned with the national cockade, and
bonnets d la Citoyenne in white gauze of an antique
simplicity. The linen of Jouy reigned in triumph
over silks, not by a royal caprice, but by the will of
the people.

The sceptre of fashion fell from the hands which
had held it so long, and Mile. Bertin saw, with horror,

spring of 1788. The crisis passed, and he was able to
resume his royal functions in March, 1789. The Duke of
Dorset, English Ambassador in France from 1783 to 1789,
gave a ball to celebrate this event.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 195

her debts growing larger day by day. The petites
bourgeoises and women of the people would not venture
into shops notorious for high prices. We have seen
that many great ladies of foreign nationality had
already left Paris ; whether out of prudence or
cowardice, the French nobility were not long in
following their example. The Duchesse de Polignac,
yielding to the persuations of the Queen, emigrated
to Germany in the night of July 16. On August 8
Princesse Louise de Conde, with the Princesse de
Monaco and the Marquise d'Autichamp, went to Bonn
671 route for Coblentz. On September 5 the Comtesse
d'Artois set out for Turin. The nobility of France
were scattered to the four corners of Europe ; London,
Brussels, Worms, Mannheim, Strasburg, and other
towns, were invaded by emigres ; the royal pair were
left in an anxious isolation, upon which history can
scarcely pass too severe a judgment.

How could a dealer in luxuries prosper under such
conditions ? In her deserted shop, before which few
carriages ever stopped now, the energetic dressmaker,
for the first time in her life, found time to go through
her books and discover bills due to her for years,
most of which there was now no means of taking
steps to recover. Rose Bertin, like a lady of leisure,
could now waste an hour sitting at the window
watching the rain.

A Royalist by conviction as well as by interest,
the Queen's modiste could no longer follow the
fantasies which the tragedies of a day introduced into

196 ROSE BERTIN

the fashions of the morrow. She could not have
displayed in her windows such ribhons as were sold
by one of her neighbours the day after the murder of
Foalon, whose head was carried through the streets
of Paris, We read in the "Souvenirs" of the Comtesse
d'Adhemar upon this subject : " A fashion -dealer of
good taste (I have heard her called so, whose shop
was at the corner of the Rues Neuve-des-Petits-
Champs and Richelieu ; her name was Gautier) dis-
played ribbons sang de Fovlon. They created a
furore; the word is an apt one."

" After the taking of the Bastille, ladies wore ear-
rings and rings made of bits of stone set in gold.
These were called jewels d la Constitution r'^

" Palloy, to whom the demolition of the Bastille
was entrusted, had little Bastilles sculptured on its
stones which he sent to the chief towns of every
department." f For more than a year all the arts
celebrated the fall of the Bastille.

The situation of Rose Bertin, though it grew less
brilliant every day, was not yet hopeless. She still
had her foreign custom. In 1790 we find on her
books the names of the Marquise de Castel-Fuerte,
a Sicilian, that of the Russian Princess Lubomirska,
then at Geneva, etc. She had still some customers
in France who had not emigrated. At Abbeville,
for example, the Marquise de Crecy, the Baronne
Duplouy, and Mme. de Hautcourt, were still faithful

* Roussel d'Epinal, " Le Chateau des Tuileries,^' t. ii.
f Ib^d.^ note.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 197

to her. Great ladies, such as the Presidente d'Or-
messon, were still in Paris. On July 5, 1790, Rose
made a Court dress for the Vicomtesse de Preissac,
who was about to be presented to Marie-Antoinette,
The Vicomtesse de Preissac emigrated to England
the following year, and died there, leaving her
presentation dress not paid for. It cost 1,218 livres,
a sum which, like many others, Rose was never able
to recover.

This was the last presentation at Court, and
Mme. de Preissac's dress was the last of the kind
made in the workrooms of the Rue de Richelieu.
They twisted " national cockades " instead. A good
trade was done in these that year, 1790, and the
following years.

The Cabinet des Modes of November 5, 1790, states,
not without a tinge of melancholy : " Our customs
are growing better ; luxury is dying out." The editor
realized the excesses into which eighteenth-century
society had been drawn by Fashion, and in this he
shows a judicious and far-seeing spirit ; but this
discarding of luxury could not fail to be prejudicial
to a trade which gave employment to innumerable
women, kept capital in circulation, and justified the
existence of such newspapers as the Cabinet des
Modes.

In March, 1790, the King and Queen, seeing that
the gravity of the situation was increasing, thought
it would be good policy to interest some of the
leading deputies of the States-General in the cause

198 ROSE BERTIN

of monarchy, especially Mirabeau. Steps were taken
in which Comte de la Marck and the Ambassador of
Austria, Mercy - Argenteau, were closely concerned.
If we may believe the author of " Souvenirs de
Lf^onard," he and Rose Bertin were employed in
these negotiations. We know how much faith we
can put in all the stories contained in these soi-disant
*' Souvenirs " of the Queen's hairdresser ; yet we
must admit that Mme. Campan, Rose Bertin, and
Leonard himself, as he boasts, if they could not have
played a leading part in this affair, may yet have
had an opportunity of enlightening the Queen upon
the political situation, upon the town gossip, and all
the public rumours, which could not reach the ears
o£ the Sovereigns, because there were too many people
about them whose interest it was to hush them up.
"The Queen," we read in the "Souvenirs," "had heard
certain details of Mirabeau s intimacy with the Due
d'Orleans from Mme. Campan, Mile. Bertin, and
myself." Mile. Bertin's share in this business can
only have consisted in enlightening the Queen, to
whom she had such easy access, upon what was
going on. She often conversed familiarly with the
Queen, and she had too much good sense not to have
taken the opportunity, while trying on, or adjusting
a ribbon, to express her anxiety, and repeat what she
heard upon all points. Her confidences and conversa-
tions must have had at least some share in the Queen's
decision to seek support for monarchy in the tribune,
who then seemed all-powerful.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY U)9

There were interviews between Mercy and Mira-
beau at La Marck's house, the Hotel Charost, Rue du
Faubourg Saint-Honor6. Marie-Antoinette used to
receive La Marck in the apartments of Mme. Thibaut,
her chief lady's-maid. " Mme. Thibaut," writes La
Marck, "was a dear old woman, dressed like any
ordinary lady's-maid. When she spoke of the Queen,
she used to say ' my mistress.' " She was with her
on the journey to Yarennes, and helped to plan the
escape from the Temple. She was a devoted woman,
and a modest customer of Rose Bertin's. It must
certainly have been through her that Rose had any-
thing to do with any confidential measures on the
subject of these delicate negotiations. But that
was all ; the part played by the modiste went no
farther.

In the course of the summer of 1790 the Queen
made an excursion to Belle vue. She had an escort
of the Garde Rationale. The Comtesse de Boigne
tells us that " she wore a pierrot of white linon
embroidered with bunches of mauve lilac, a full fichu,
and a large straw hat with wide mauve ribbons tied
in a large bow where the fichu was crossed on her
bosom."

The number of those who paid court to the Queen
daily grew less. Showing oneself at the Tuileries
was a thing to be avoided ; the sentinels who kept
the gates of the garden had orders to refuse admission
to anyone not wearing the national cockade — " the
national cockade which was sometimes so small that

200 ROSE BERTIN

it escaped observation, and sometimes hidden con-
temptuously under another bow of ribbon," says the
Englishwoman Helen Williams. Then the guard
would cry gruffly : " Citoyenne, your cockade I" and
if the cockade could not be produced entrance to the
Tuileries was refused. The trade in cockades was
the only one which current events made flourishing,
but the profit it yielded was small.

It is true that there were many who did not hide
their cockades — quite the contrary. In April, 1791,
we read in the Journal de la Coiir de la Ville :

*'It is impossible to understand the vanity of certain
aristocrats who order national cockades of such exag-
gerated size and price that some are as big as cabbages,
and cost 18 livres apiece."

Those sold by Rose Bertin were not all so expensive
as this. On March 24, 1790, the Comtesse de Conway
bought one for 7 livres ; on February 19, 1791, the
Comtesse Gentinne ordered one at 6 livres ; and the
Comtesse Gouvernet paid 9 livres for hers. On
March 14, 1792, the famous Vestris, of the Opera,
ordered rather a fancy one of violet, pink, and white
satin ribbon.

Many women who had no political convictions wore
the cockade out of vanity, the three colours looked
so pretty in the sunshine; for the spring of 1791 was
remarkable for perfect weather : ''in the first days of
April, 1791, the weather was superb and warm,"*

* Comtesse d'Adhemar, " Souvenirs sur Marie-Antoinette,'''
t. iv.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 201

and all the favourite promenades in the Champs-

Ely sees and the Tuileries were crowded.

At that time the Queen was occupied with serious
matters which made her neglect the things in which
she had so long found pleasure and amusement. She
still gave orders to Demoiselle Noel, Demoiselle Mouil-
lard, Dame Pompee,^^' and Dame Eloffe, but they do not
seem to have supplied her with anything more than
ribbons, fichus, scarfs, and a few bonnets. These mod-
istes were generally employed in remodelling and un-
important work ; Rose Bertin and Sarrazin, the King's
tailor, were still the official suppliers of the Court,
and orders of any importance were reserved for them.

The Queen had not yet abandoned Rose Bertin.
All the stories told and rumours circulated were
nothing but pure invention. We repeat this once
more because we have had in our hands the ^' Memo-
randum of goods supplied to H.M. Queen Marie-
Antoinette by Mile. Bertin from January 1, 1791,
to August 12, 1792."'j" The existence o£ this memo-
randum is an irrefutable proof that the story of her
disgrace had no foundation. Maitre Grangeret, lawyer
for the heirs of Rose Bertin, supplied a list of goods
and payments received from the year 1788 to
August 10, 1792, which gives us an exact know-
ledge of the Queen s expenditure during that time.

* Mme. Porapey, Rue de FOrangerie at Versailles, was
already a supplier of fashions to the Queen in 1784 (Arch.
Nat., Prevote de FHotel, Serie OS 3,704).

t Collection J. Doucet, Dossier 596.

202 ROSE BERTIN

The following document seems to us of interest for
that reason :

The Queen"'s Wardrobe.

Livres. s. Livres. s.
Sum of goods supplied in the year

1788 68,992 10

Paid in various instalments up to

No vember 30, 1 789 46,389 0

Received on March 25, 1792, from

the Caisse de TExtraordinaire ... 22,603 10

68,992 10

Sum of goods supphed in the year

1789 46,072 8

Received on March 25 from the

Caisse de TExtraordinaire . . . 38,000 0

Discount for 1788 and 1789 ... 8,072 8

46,072 8

Sum of goods supplied in the year

1790 42,736 18

Payments.

Received in different instalments
from February 27 to November 8,
inclusive, in money, from whom
not indicated 42,736 18

Sum of goods supplied in 1791, with
interest for arrears in 1788 and
1 789, to January 1 , 1 792 ... 44,077 4

Sum of goods supplied up to

April 10 17,120 0

61,197 4

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 203

Livi'es. s. Livres. s.
Sum of goods supplied (as detailed

on p. 202) 61,197 4

Payments on Account,

September 7, 1791, in money, on

account for 1791 3,000 0

November 8, 1791, on account for

1791, in money 3,319 0

December 21, on account for 1791,

in money ... ... ... ... 6,000 0

February 23, 1792, in money, on

account ... ... ... ... 6,000 0

March 15, 1792, in money, on

account ... ... ... ... 5,000 0

May 18, 1792, in money, on account 2,000 0

25,319 0

35,878 4

The last account of January 1, 1791, to August 10,
1792, was made out by the Duchesse de Grammout
d'Ossun, Lady of the Wardrobe, and handed to
Henry, the Intendant of the Civil List. It was as
follows :

January Quarter, 1791.

Livres. s. Livres. s.

Materials 484 0

Dresses ... ... ... ... 1,705 0

Trimmings, etc. ... ... ... 3,814 8

6,003 8

April Quarter, 1791.

Materials ... ... ... ... 90 0

Dresses 3,973 0

Trimmings, etc. ... ... ... 5,241 0

9,304 0

204 ROSE BERTIN

July Quarter, 1791.

Livres. s. Livres. s.

Materials 1,186 0

Trimmings, etc. ... ... ... 4,673 0

5,859 0

October Quarter, 1791.

Materials ... ... ... ... 405 0

Dresses ... ... ... ... 6,859 0

Trimmings, etc. ... ... ... 7,656 16

14,920 16

Interest on the years 1788 and 1789 7,990 0

January quarter, 179^ ... ... ... ... 4,824 2

April quarter, 1792 7,535 18

July quarter to August 1 0, 1 792 4,760 0

61,197 4

It will be noticed that in these last five years the
Queen's expenditure diminished steadily. The total
of 68,992 livres 10 sols for the year 1788, a
slight increase on that of the year 1787, which was
61,545 livres,* is reduced to 46,072 livres 8 sols in
1789, and to 42,736 livres 18 sols in 1790 ; and
after deducting 7,990 livres for interest on arrears, to
36,087 livres 4 sols in 1791. Finally the ex-
penditure for seven months and ten days in 1792,
was 17,119 livres, an average of about 28,000 livres
per annum.

* Archives Nationales, O^, 3,792. This dossier gives the
figures 61,992 Hvres for 1788, instead of 68,992, the figures
given in M. J. Doucet's collection of extracts.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 205

We have extracted the following prices from the
items of the last bill :

Deesses,
January 8, 1791 : Retrimming state robe of orange

VC^1V\^L ••* ••• >•« «>• ••• ■*•

January 14, 1791 : Trimming Turkish dress of
green satin

February 2, 1791 : Trimming a striped state robe
with plumage of foreign birds ...

April 24, 1791 : Trimming state robe for Easter
Sunday, ground of white gros de Naples^ em-
broidered with Reine-Marguerites in silk

May 1, 1791 : A skirt of very fine white gauze ...
A violet Turkish dress with violet stripes
Crepe skirt to wear with it

June 1, 1791 : Trimming Turkish dress of pink

uUflXC^Lu' *•• #•• ••« ••• ••• «»•

Trimming another Turkish dress of striped
blue gauze ...
June 12, 1791 : Trimming a state robe of violet

l^tUiv^i/cl *•• ••• ••• •*• • • * •*•

June 18, 1791 : Trimming a Turkish dress of blue

and black shot taffeta ...
September SO, 1791 : Trimming a redingote of

brown moire striped with blue ...

Trimming a Turkish dress of striped moire ...
October % 1791 : Trimming state robe of lilac

gourgourant

Supplying skirt of striped crepe
Trimming a dress
October 28, 1791 : Turkish dress of blue and

white striped satin
November 2, 1791 : State dress of brown satin for

All Saints' Day ...
November 6, 1791 : Turkish dress of blue and

brown satin ... ... ... ... ... 918 0

Livres.

215

621

669

795

216

615

244

684

496

405

518

678

618

457

800

618

678

,430

206 ROSE BERTIN

Livres. s.

November 20, 1791 : Turkish dress of Indian satin

painted white and pink ... ... ... ... 618 0

December 4, 1791 : State dress of violet satin ... 721 0

December 20, 1791 : Turkish dress of satin-faced

cloth, with lace belonging to the Queen ... 24 0

December 24, 1791 : Trimming a state dress of
orange velvet with marten, the hem of the dress
trimmed with same fur, belonging to the Queen 24 0

December 29, 1791 : State dress for New Year's

Day, of blue embroidered satin ... ... ... 978 0

April 1,1792: Trimming crepe dress ... ... 78 0

April 13, 1792: Trimming state dress of black

striped with black ... ... ... ... 192 0

May 13, 1792 : Trimming state dress of blue and

violet glace taffeta ... ... ... ... 51 0

May 19, 1792 : Trimming a redingote of brown

taffeta with A len(^on ... ... ... ... 668 0

May 26, 1792 : Trimming state dress of em-
broidered gourgourant with white ground . . . 898 0

July 11, 1792 : Trimming a white gauze dress ... 285 0

July 28, 1792 : Trimming a state dress of blue

Trimmings, etc.

January 8, 1791 : A mantilla in blonde ... ... 200 0

A poiif of puce-coloured velvet draped with

white satin ... ... ... ... ... 80 0

January 29, 1791 : Six large fichus of gaze de

C/iam^tV?/, at 12 livres ... ... ... ... 72 0

February 27, 1791 : Changing gauze of a fichu

and putting lace border .. . ... ... ... 10 0

A hat with fine yellow straw crown, trimmed
with white satin to form turban, a flat blue
feather round the shape, a panache of two
blue feathers at the side ... ... ... 72 0

216

280

400

LAST YEARS OF THE MONAECHY 207

Livres. s.
April 10, 1791 : A mantle of white Florence

May 18, 1791 : A black taiFeta shawl

June 24, 1791 : A mantle of black taffeta

Another mantle of black taffeta
August 4, 1791 : For a present —

A hat of fine yellow straw, trimmed with a
profusion of blue taffeta ribbon, and strings
of same to tie under the chin ... ... 48 0

Three yards of wide sash ribbon to match, at

4 livres ... ... ... ... ... 12 0

August 27, 1791 : Mantle of black taffeta trimmed

with Angleterre ...
September 6, 1791 : A poiif'oi blue crepe

A hat en honnette of batiste, edged with wide
linen lace a third of the height, draped with
a fichu of fine organdie
A poufmside from a fichu of organdie
A white straw hat

A hat of English beaver, chocolate colour ...
September 20, 1791 : For Madame Roy ale —
A wreath of scabious ...
Ditto of white musk roses
Ditto of pink musk roses
Ditto of corn-flowers ...
Ditto of field-flowers ...
October 2, 1791 : A mantilla of blonde and

Alen^on ... ... ... ... ... ... 200 0

January 20, 1792 : Mantle of black taffeta trimmed

with Angleterre ... ... ... ... ... 300 0

Another mantle of black taffeta trimmed with

Alen(^on ... ... ... ... ... 410 0

Third mantle of black taffeta trimmed with

Alengon ... ... ... ... ... 420 0

A fourth mantle of white Florence, with

trimmings made by Le Normand ... ... 33 0

316

280

208 ROSE BERTIN

Livres. s.

May 15, 1792 : For Madame—

A 'pouf of wreath of mauve lilac, ribbon of

white frivolite and gauze a verimclielle ... 78 0
A second fouf of a wreath of roses and white
striped gauze ribbons, a beautiful white
feather at the side ... ... ... ... 90 0

May 28, 1792 : Two bonnets, deep mourning, in
white crepe, a coiffe of gauze, one of black wool,
at 51 livres ... ... ... ... ... 102 0

We give the last lines of the account verbatim :

For Madame.

August 7 : A fouf of violet crepe with green corn-
ears, a panache of three feathers and blonde ... 90 0
A poivf of blue crepe and pearls, wide blonde
with ground of Alen9on, and blue-and-
white feather ... ... ... ... 110 0

A 'poiif of striped gauze with almonds, a

wreath of roses and bunch of the same roses 98 0
Two boxes at 3 livres ... ... ... ... 6 0

The account ends here.

Three days later the Tuileries were besieged, bom-
barded, and taken by assault. That day the mob
pillaged the Queen's wardrobe, and divided the gar-
ments which appear in Rose Bertin's last account.
The following is the description of the scene given
by Roussel d'Epinal"^:

" The entrance to the Queen's apartments is blocked
with dead bodies wrapped in blankets. Except tne

^ " Le Chateau des Tuileries;' par P. J. A. R. D. T.

LAST YEARS OF THE MONARCHY 209

hangings, chairs, sofas, and bed, everything is sacked.
Not a looking-glass intact; they are ground to powder.
How many women rummaged curiously in her ward-
robe ! How many bonnets, elegant hats, pink skirts,
white petticoats and blue petticoats, are scattered
about the room !" However, everything did not
disappear ; thieves were expected, and guards were
sent. In 1793 the furniture of the Tuileries was
sold. The sale was not very brilliant. A hne
auction was expected, but there was nothing of the
sort. There came only second-hand dealers, and the
curious who bought nothing. However, the ward-
robes of Marie- Antoinette and Mme. Elizabeth sold
a little better than that of Louis XVL, which fetched
ludicrous prices.

The Revolutionary Government now undertook
the maintenance of the Royal Family out of the
500,000 livres voted for that purpose by the Conven-
tion. But they did not pay the debts still due by
the prisoners in the Temple on August 10, 1792.
We have seen that the total of the Queen's bill
amounted to 35,878 livres 4 sols, including goods
supplied to Madame Royale. To these must be added
400 livres due by Mme. Elizabeth, and 184 livres for
the Dauphin's clothes, a total of 36,462 livres 4 sols
for ever lost to Rose Bertin.

In the extracts which we have given, we have
included the dresses trimmed for Marie- Antoinette,
and the principal items of the account. It may
be observed that, with a few exceptions, the

210 ROSE BERTIN

prices are not very extraordinary. Mantles at 48
livres and fichus at 12 livres are not at all excessive ;
these would even be modest prices in the catalogues
sent out nowadays by our great shops. Our elegentes
would laugh at the idea of paying 80 or 90 livres
for a velvet toque bearing the name of the leading
maison de modes in the whole world. But that is
what Rose Bertin charged the Queen of France. On
the other hand, Marie- Antoinette ordered forty poufs
and hats and fifty bonnets in nineteen months.

Among the bonnets are two in deep mourning.
The date of their delivery, May 28, 1792, shows that
the Queen ordered them upon the death of Leopold IL,
her brother Emperor of Germany, which took place
a few weeks before.

At the beginning of this year 1792, when Rose
Bertin went to the Tuileries one day upon her usual
business, Marie- Antoinette said to her as she came in :
" 1 dreamed of you last night, my dear Rose ; I
thought you brought me a lot of coloured ribbons,
and that I chose several, but they all turned black as
soon as I took them in my hands."

&- ->-

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t,-;>v v

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V,-^,-.' '- -

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mmM

MADAME fXISAHETH, SISTER OF LOUIS XVI.

Tij face p:L^^e liK*

CHAPTER VI

ROSE BERTIN DURING THE REVOLUTION JOURNEYS TO

GERMANY AND ENGLAND — LIST OF EMIGRANTS

THE HOUSE AT EPINAY

According to the memoirs which appeared in her
name, Rose Bertin probably went on a voyage to
Germany and England in 1791-92. It is not im-
probable that she was in England in 1791. We
know, at least, that the Queen received no dresses
from her between Jmie 18 and September 20, 1791,
nor any trimmings from Jmie 24 to August 4, and
Marie-Antoinette enjoyed discussing her toilettes with
her dressmaker in person.

Rose must therefore have been absent from Paris ;
it has, in fact, been proved that she was in Germany in
July, 1791.

Parties and merry gatherings succeeded each other
at Coblentz, as in the happy days at Trianon, so that
we read in the memoirs of the Marquise de Laage,
that " Mile. Bertin, the Queen's dressmaker, has
followed her clients, and is exercising her talents in
the new Court . . . the Court of Coblentz is not a
whit less elegant than the Court of Versailles."

211

212 ROSE BERTIN

Those were the joyous days of the Emigration. The
Royal Family had taken up their residence at the Castle
of Schoenbornhut,and their suite at the Deutsche- Haus.
Meanwhile, certain of their followers viewed with
anxiety the gaiety of their surroundings. " There are
too many women at Coblentz," said the Chevalier Du
Bray sadly. Mme. de Caylus, Mme. d' Autichamp, the
Duchesse de Guiche, Mme. de Polastron, Mme. de
Poulpry, Mme. de Valicourt, the Princesse de Monaco,
held their salon there, and rivalled each other with the
brilliance of their toilettes. " We ride or walk along the
Bonn Road, and forgather at the Savage Cafe or the
Three Crowns." In fact, to all appearance, it might
have been a pleasant holiday spent at a fashionable
watering-place.

Rose did not, however, remain at Coblentz, but
returned to Paris for the winter.

Peuchet, the recognized author of Mile. Bertin's
memoirs, says, in speaking of a journey she took to
Germany, that she had been sent on a mission by the
Queen. Of this there is no proof, but the fact that
Peuchet says it shows once more that even in his
time it was well known that the Queen's dress-
maker had not fallen into disfavour. Peuchet affirms
that while in Vienna she obtained an audience of the
Emperor Francis IL, during which she described to
him the real political situation of France, the fears
entertained at Court, and the perils to which
Marie-Antoinette, her relatives, and her followers,
were exposed. Peucher adds that she succeeded in

DURING THE REVOLUTION 213

overcoming Francis 11. 's prejudices against the Queen,
his aunt.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that the
Queen should employ persons not holding any official
or diplomatic post upon missions to foreign countries;
it was the surest way of communicating with the
outside world, without fear of her correspondence
heing intercepted. In this Avay her hairdresser
Leonard was despatched beforehand to the Marquis de
Bouilld on occasion of the journey to Yarennes, and
that upon the accession of Francis II., according to
Mme. Campan, Marie-Antoinette found means of
communicating her private feelings to the Emperor,
and sent a letter of condolence upon Leopold 11. 's
death in the ordinary way, it being understood that
Barnave should read all her correspondence.

We have ample proof that at this period different
people, having no connection whatever with the
diplomatic service, were charged with certain mis-
sions, or acted as intermediaries in carrying con-
fidential reports.

Thus, M. Genet, who was expecting to be expelled
from Russia, where he had been acting as French
Charge d' Affaires since 1789, had drawn up instruc-
tions for M. Patot d'Orflans, Charge d'Affaires of the
General Consulate of France, dated July 24, 1792,
recommending him to send his reports to the Minister
of Foreign Affairs through the post in the shape of
invoices or bills, of which the figures w^ould stand
for a code of words agreed upon. The Minister, on

214 ROSE BERTIN

his side, was to send his correspondence to the
imaginary address of M. Laurent, care of Mme. de
Monzouvre, a costumier.*

There is therefore nothing astonishing in the fact
that Marie- x\ntoinette should have employed a person
whose loyalty was above suspicion, and sent her upon
a mission to the Austrian Court. Rose Bertin's trade
with foreign countries, and the voyages which were
the outcome of that trade, saved her from suspicion ;
given the fact that she was in need of a devoted
messenger, it is impossible to suppose that the Queen
would not have thought of her.

In any case, if the journey to Vienna is not proved,
there is irrefutable proof that she was in Germany in
1792, and that she left Paris on July 1, 1792.
Among the National Archives there exist two copies
of " An Account of Certain Sums of Money remitted
by Citizeness Bertin to her Paris Establishment, since
her Departure on July 1, 1792." By these documents
we learn that she was in Frankfort in August and in
September, 1792 — thus:

Livi'es,
August 1, 1792: From Frankfort, by Citizen

Messin, Rue de la Loi ... ... ... 9,140

By Citizen Ibert, Place de PlfigaHte 15,394

September 21, 1792: From Frankfort, by Citizen

Prevost ... ... ... ... ... ... l,000f

* " Recueil des Instructions donnees aux Ambassadeurs et
Ministres de France, Russie,"' t. ii., par Alfred Rambaud.

t Archives Nationales, Comite de Surete Generale, Serie
F^, 4,596 et Emigration (Seine), Police Generale, Serie F^,
5,612.

DURING THE REVOLUTION 215

Citizen Ibert was a relation of Rose's. Therefore
Rose Bertin was not in Paris during the massacres
of September ; she was not an eyewitness, in the Rue
Richelieu, of the scenes of blood enacted in Paris on
that tragic date, though she might perhaps have heard
from her shop the distant murmur of tlie howling
mob, as they promenaded the town, bearing aloft the
pale, blood-stained head of the Princessede Lamballe.
From the moment when, on the threshold of her
prison, she was felled to the ground by a heavy blow,
Mme. de Lamballe became the prey of the populace.
Her head, severed from its trunk, was placed all
bleeding on a pike, and escorted through the town by
a degraded mob of tipsy harpies and drunken, brutal-
faced men. Shouting obscene songs, they proceeded
from the Rue des Ballets to the Temple, where the
Royal Family was confined ; and from the Temple to
the Palais-Royal, where the Due d'Orldans hearing the
noise, and wishing to learn the cause, suddenly saw
the ghastly thing appear close to his balcony, and
fell back shuddering. Finally, the head which Rose
Bertin had crowned ten years previously with the
charming flowered hat which figures in Rioult's
painting was borne fi-om the Palais- Roj^al to the Place
du Chatelet, where a number of corpses were thrown
that day, through the Rue Saint-Honor^, past Rose
Be r tin's former house. With what a grief-stricken
face would she not have listened to the cries of
the mob as they crowded howling roimd the Due
d'Orlean's house !

216 ROSE BERTIN

All the costumiers of Paris, however, did not share
her feelings. The following is an extract from a
letter sent to the army of the King of Prussia,
addi^essed to the Marquise de Bressan : " Here is an
anecdote which your brother would do well to tell
the Duke of Brunswick. On the famous 10th, Mme.
de Gemstorche, one of Mme. de Lamballe's ladies,
threw herself, panic-stricken, into the arms of a Sans-
Culotte, and begged him to spare her life. As he
dragged her out of the crowd, with his blood-stained
hands, she asked him to take her to his house. What
was her astonishment to find that the wife of the raga-
muffin was a dressmaker, and his mother a linen-
draper! She spent the night with them, and they
were most attentive ; but that is not the point — ^,the
point is that our friends the * bourgeois ' are Sans-
Culottes : drive it home, my dear. The next day
they escorted her to the address she gave, after she
had told them who she was. They limited them-
selves to making horrible remarks about the Queen
and Mme. Lamballe."''^'

The news of the massacres and the names of the
chief victims were speedily retailed throughout the
length and breadth of Europe. Rose Bertin could
then think with sorrow of the temporary misunder-
standing that had clouded her relations with this
same Princess ; how long ago it seemed, and yet liow
near ! Perhaps her headstrong and haughty character
had caused her to play an unworthy part in that

* " Correspondance Originale des Emigres, 1793," Paris.

PRINCKSSE DE LAMBALLE

T.J face page ■-'!<

THE HOUSE AT EPINAY 217

quarrel ; with what remorse, then, would she listen to
the horrible details of the death of that woman, so
joyous, elegant, amiable, full of vivacity, swept away
in a whirlwind of confusion and terror on that terrible
day ! It is notable that Rose Bertin's absence in
1792 aroused the suspicions of the municipality of
Epinay-sur- Seine.

She owned a house at Epinay in the Rue du Bord
de I'Eau, which she had acquired in 1782. Until

then she had owned a countrv-house at Cires-les-Millo,

■J '

on the road between Senlis and Beauvais, which she
sold when she decided to remove to Epinay. Busy
as she always was, it was infinitely more convenient
to have a country-house nearer to her place of
business than as far out as Cires-les-Mello, fifteen
miles distant.

The register of taxation for house property for
Epinay in the year 1792 gives, in the paragraph
relating to Mile. Bertin, a total of 112 livres 8 sols,
and in the margin against her name is written :
" Emigrated." At that period absence, however
short, caused a rumour of emigration to be spread
abroad. It is true that the rumour was often justi-
fied, and a dressmaker to the Queen, above all, might
well be suspected of having taken refuge abroad,
especially by the authorities of a little country town,
where the importance of her position must necessarily
have been considerably exaggerated. There were,
however, means of ascertaining ; it was simple enough
to obtain news from Paris. The Bertin establish-

218 ROSE BERTIN

ment was well known to the police of the Palais-
Royal District. But the police investigation had
been too hasty and too superficial. Informed of
Mile. Bertin*s departure, they had jumped to the
conclusion that she had joined her refugee clients
abroad, and the word "Emigrated" had been pre-
maturely written against her name. Later a note
was added to the effect that the statement should be
verified ; consequently Mile. Bertin's name appears on
the register of 1793, and she is no longer considered
as having emigrated.

This register of taxes gives us some idea of the
style in which Mile. Bertin lived in her country-
house — "my Epinay," as she loved to call it. Ac-
cording to the register, she was served by a " male
servant and a female servant." The man was em-
ployed to drive a trap (cabriolet), for which she paid
a tax of 20 livres.* And we learn, further, that she
paid 18 livres 15 sols for the six chimneys with
which her country-house was furnished.

In those days one was taxed for chimneys, in these
for doors and windows ; there has been no great
change — the exchequer is ever with us. In the
question of taxes, to-day is as yesterday, to-morrow
as to-day ; the sauce is more or less salted, that
is all.

In 1793, upon an income estimated at 1,814 livres
16 sols, Mile. Bertin paid in taxes the exorbitant sum

*' " Registre de Contribution Mobiliere et somptuaire
d^lipinay, 1793."

THE HOUSE AT EPINAY 219

of 596 livres 4 sols. In truth, some Governments
were not cheap ; they did not last long, it is true, but
during the time they did last they ruined or terribly
impoverished the nation.

How Rose loved her country-house ! it was her
miniature Trianon. There, in the shade of the trees,
she could breathe pure air on Sundays, during the
summer months, after the fevered rush of the week.
On week-days she knew no idle moment ; from town
she would hasten to the Court at Versailles, to
La Muette, to Marly, to Fontainebleau ; then back to
her establishment in the Eue de Richelieu, there
to receive a crowd of great ladies, the majority of
whom were most exacting ; then to attend to her
foreign correspondence, whether with Spain, or Swe-
den, England, Russia, Austria, Portugal, and so on.
This concluded, there were still her orders for
Le Normand, Yentzel, all the great Parisian houses ;
there was the work of her ladies to be supervised,
Mention, Sagedieu, and others ; and if there was still
time, there were her accounts to be looked into.
According to Maitre Grangeret, lawyer to her heirs, her
account-books were in perfect order, but this appears
to us to be greatly exaggerated.

Her country-house was comfortable, but could
scarcely be called luxurious. A three-storied house,
containing a bath-room, which had been formerly a
chapel, a billiard -room, stables, coach-house, a dove-
cot, a terrace, and a wood which extended to the
river. It did not cost an exorbitant sum of money,

220 ROSE BERTIN

far from it ; Rose Bertin, who then lived in the
Rue Saint-Honore, had bought it on March 2, 1782,
for about 13,000 livres, from Jean- Jacques Gilbert de
Fraigne, Plenipotentiary for Germany. She liked
the property and increased it. On June 30, 1792,
when the property which the Mathurins d'Emile
(Montmorency) held at Epinay was put up for sale,
she bought part of it, paying a sum of 46,075 livres,
which, allowing for depreciation in assignats, amounted
to 24,000 livres ; devoting to this purpose the money
she had received from the sale of the Hotel des
Chiens, which had just taken place.

She was always happy to receive visitors at
Epinay, and the Russian Princes, her clients, did
not disdain to spend a few hours there. The Count
Razoumowsky, amongst others, was a welcome visitor.
** Deprived of the pleasure of the visit you promised
to pay me at my Epinay," she writes to him in 1793,
"judge of my surprise when I learnt from His Excel-
lency the Ambassador that you had left for Germany.
I was thus prevented from showing you at least
twelve letters from the Countess, each one more
amiable than the last, letters which are most dear
to me. I am persuaded that we should both have
wept over them, but one can but submit to the
decree of Providence ; and I must be resigned to
the grief I still feel at having been unable to take
leave of you."

These Russians of high rank did not treat the
Queen's dressmaker as an ordinary tradeswoman.

THE HOUSE AT EPINAY 221

They frequently visited her, and sometimes made
her presents.

" I offer you a thousand thanks for the charming
engraving you had the kindness to send me," writes
Kose Bertin on December 4, 1794, to Countess
Skavronsky, niece of Prince Potemkin, then at
Naples, and who sent the souvenir referred to and
a sum of money by the same post.

"It is a real present for me, and I look upon it,
and shall keep it, as the most precious gift I have
ever received," adds Eose, doubtless with exaggerated
fervour. The sum of 2,512 livres 10 sols which
accompanied the gift must have been more pleasing
to receive, as Rose's position was becoming more and
more difficult, and to meet the calls upon her she had
already been compelled to sell some of her jewellery.
Thus the account-book of the aforesaid Countess
Skavronsky states that she had bought from Rose
Bertin in 1791, amongst other things, a gold chain,
value 112 livres ; a painted bracelet mounted in gold,
value 400 livres ; and a necklace of gold and pearls,
value 388 livres. It was due time to call in old
debts, and no easy matter to do so in the general
confusion, when relations with foreign countries were
becoming ever more strained, rendering comnmnica-
tion difficult, and correspondence with the refugees
dano^eruus. It was this which made Rose decide
to go to Germany in July, 1792, which journey was
the cause of her being entered on the list oi emigres.

In 1792 Rose Bertin was still supplying Mme. Du

222 ROSE BERTm

Barry with toilettes. The last article was supplied
to her on September 12 of that year, and consisted
of a bonnet " edged with a double pleating of fine
tulle, on a foundation of satin and gauze, and white
satin ribbon," value 42 livres. A few days later
Mme. Du Barry left for London, where a case was to
be heard in the courts respecting a theft of diamonds
which were stolen from her at Louveciennes. She
remained there from October, 1792, to March 1, 1793,
and would have shown wisdom in not returning to
France, but was back in Louveciennes on March 23.
From that day to June 2, the date of her arrest, we
can find no trace of any new purchase at the dress-
maker of Rue de la Loi. The better-known ladies
of fashion learnt to forget the w^ay to the shops
wdiere tempting articles waited them, and where in
happier days they had loved to wdiile away the
hours fingering chiffons and discussing new fashions.
From the most virtuous bourgeoise to the most dis-
solute courtesan, of all who had been known to the
public or who possessed a title, none dared be seen
in the streets of Paris, where the vengeance of a
people long oppressed by the luxury of the great,
a blind and brutal vengeance, made the gutters run
with blood.

The Royal Family was imprisoned ; but even in
the Temple the Queen remained faithful to her
ordinary tradespeople. Thus in Mme. Eloffe's
journal w^e find a note to the effect that Marie-
Antoinette owed her a sum amounting to 34 livres

DURING THE REVOLUTION 223

4 sols for goods supplied on August 18, 1792. In
the Archives Nationales there exists a bill of Mme.
Pompey for 115 livres 17 sols, dated August 12,
1792,* and another of Mile. Bertin's, dated March 4,
1793, amounting to 602 livres, for goods delivered at
the Temple in August and September, 1792. f A
decree from the Council-General is annexed ordering
that the said bills be paid. Therefore, though Rose
was absent, her Paris establishment was not closed.

But what a meagre sum these 602 livres seem to
be, after the fortune which Marie- Antoinette used
formerly to spend ! And yet the prisoners of the
Temple had been brought there almost, one might
say, devoid of clothes, and the costume of blue
taffeta which Rose had made for the Queen a lew
days previously, and which cost 959 livres 10 sols,
was too elegant for the dreary rooms of the Temple,
where luxury was out of place, a sad contrast to the
flowery surroundings of Trianon.

During her confinement in the Temple, Marie-
Antoinette wore a morning gown of white dimity,
and a lawn cap ; at midday she changed this for a
brown linen gown with a small flowered pattern.
These were her only dresses until the day that the
King was taken to the scaffold. Meanwhile Rose
Bertin, while losing her old clients, found no new
ones ; but inactive she could not remain, and turned
her energies to the recovery of debts which hundreds
of persons owed her. Thus she obtained from the
* Archives Nationales, F^, 1,311. t Ibid.

224 ROSE BERTIN

Countess Skavronsky the sum referred to above, and
despatched piteous letters on all sides.

On December 1, 1792, she wrote to Count Czerni-
chefF : " My actual position compels me to beg the
Count CzernichefF to come to my assistance." To
Count Eazoumowsky she wrote : *' I beg you, Count,
to take into consideration my total ruin."

Among these debts were some important ones ;
during her absence in 1792, Martincourt, a business
man who had charge of her affairs, wrote on
November 12 of that year to the Duke of Sudermaine,
Regent of Sweden, as follows : " Circumstances having
compelled Mile. Bertin to go abroad to attend to
her business, her creditors have found among her
accounts a bill against her deceased majesty the
Queen of Sweden, amounting to 48,674 livres
14 sols.*

The Queen had many times begged her to go
abroad, representing the danger to which she exposed
herself by remaining in Paris. Rose arranged matters
very skilfully ; on one side she bought the confiscated
lands of the Mathurins de Montmorency for a hand-
ful of crowns, and on the other, under an assumed
name, sold her property in the Rue du Mail for
820,000 livres. She made thus a profit of 36,000
livres on the purchase price, and, using the deal at
Epinay as a blind to the patriots, she was able with-
out arousing suspicion to go abroad to place in
safety the sum realized by the sale of her houses in
* Collection de M. J. Doucet, Dossier 595.

DURING THE EEVOLUTION 225

the Rue du Mail, in virtue of a deed set forth in the
^' Minutes des Lettres de Ratification":*

"Anne-Suzanne-Franqoise Gobelin, whose property
is separated from that of her husband, Adrien-Nicolas
de la Salle, Field- Marshal, represented by Louis-Rene
Philippe, her lawyer, states that by a contract
drawn up in the presence of Havard and his
colleague, notaries of Paris, on October 16, 1792,
registered in this town on the 19th of the same
month by Guesnier, she acquired from Joseph
Perrat, formerly army surgeon, residing in Paris,
Cour de I'Arsenal, in the name of, and as procurator
of, Marie-Jeanne Bertin, adult, in trade, usually
residing in Paris, Rue de Richelieu, ward of the
Butte-des-Moulins, two houses known by the name
of the large and small Hotel des Chiens, situated in
Paris, Rue du Mail, with all their appurtenances and
tenements, without reserve, the said sale being made
for the sum of 320,000 livres, upon the ordinary and
customary charges. . . .

** The said houses and hotels belonging to the said
seller in virtue of a declaration made by Etienne-
Louis Bonnard, lawyer, by a deed drawn up in the
presence of Maulard, notary of Paris, on February 23,
1788, who had become owner thereof in virtue of a
lawsuit, preceded by the customary legal publications,
made before Moreau, notary of Paris, on the said

* "Minutes des Lettres de Ratification/' No. 2,369,
Archives de la Seine.

226 ROSE BERTIN

day, February 23, 1788, at the request of Pierre
Roger, citizen of Paris, and of Marie Piery his wife,
proprietors of the said houses, having become owners
thereof by judgment of the Commission established
at Chatelet to judge of the respective claims of Dame
Ressons, Robiche, Yillars, and others, dated Novem-
ber 26, 1776, followed by letters ratifying the same,
published the following July.

^' Given at Paris, January 16, 1793, second year

of the Republic.

'* (Signed) Monnot."

Rose nevertheless kept herself well informed of
the general situation of affairs. She learnt, therefore,
that in the provinces as well as in Paris the gaps in
the ranks of the nobility who patronized her grew
ever more numerous, especially in Abbeville, where she
had always had many clients. Already in June, 1792,
she had despatched goods to M. de Selincourt, who
had taken refuge in Liege ; Baron Duplouy, who had
always been on friendly terms with her, had also left
Abbeville and fled to Boulogne, from whence he took
ship for England, and settled in Canterbury.

All this did not tend to increase Rose Bertin's
profits ; she wrote on the subject to her agent
Martincourt, who devoted himself energetically to
her creditors in Abbeville. The Republic confiscated
the property of the dmhjrdR^ but paid their debts,
while there was any capital to do so. There was
no time to be lost. As a result of his efforts,

DUMNG THE REVOLUTION 227

Martincourt received the following circular, summing
up his client's position :

" The Administrators of the Department of la Somme
to Citizen Martincourt^ Abbeville.

"Citizen, — Respecting merchandise and goods sup-
plied to emigrls^ the law of the 1st Floreal allows pay-
ment to be made of such bills only of merchants and
tradesmen as have been verified. This verification,
according to the law of the 18th Pluviose last past,
must be made by the central administration ; but when
the creditors do not reside in the chief town, the
municipal administrations of their respective towns
are responsible."

The closing of Duplouy's account was entered on
the register of the secretary's office of the Abbeville
District on December 23, 1792, first year of the
French Republic*

Rose Bertin, however, had not lost hope of return-
ing to France ; and hearing that her name had been
placed on the list of dmigr^s^ she spared no effort to
to have it removed.

Her representatives at Paris procured a certificate
from the Commissioner of Police of the district
Butte -des-Moulins, certifying that he had supplied
Citizeness Bertin with a passport, dated June 28,
1792; and that Charles - Jean Soldato, restaurant

* Collection J. Doucet, Rose Bertin, Dossier 240.

228 ROSE BERTIN

proprietor, 1,241 Rue de la Loi, and Luc-Joseph-
Charles Corazza, proprietor of a coffee-house, No. 12,
Maison figalit^, had been witnesses.* Rose's friends
then prepared their case, and laid her claims before the
authorities, receiving from them the following decree,
dated November 27, 1792, first year of the Republic :

" Having considered the memorial of Citizeness
Marie -Jeanne Bertin, dressmaker of the Rue de
Richelieu, by which she requests that the seals placed
on her country-house at fipinay be removed ; having
considered also the papers annexed to her memorial :
(1) A statement of merchandise which she has de-
spatched to Frankfort ; (2) a certificate from Citizen
Chevry le Chesnes, dated November 16, 1792, testify-
ing, in his capacity as carrier of Paris, that he de-
spatched fifteen cases to Frankfort on the part of
Citizeness Bertin ; (3) a note from Citizen Boc-
queaux, dated September 10, 1792, announcing that
he has despatched to Frankfort a box of feathers and
silk ribbon in the name of Mile. Bertin ; (4) a certifi-
cate from Citizen Messin, merchant of Paris, dated
July 26y 1792, stating that, being in Frankfort on
business last July, Citizeness Bertin entrusted to him,
as a private matter, the sum of 9,140 livres, to be
remitted to her establishment on his return to Paris ;
(5) a letter from Citizen Ibert, dated from Ma3^ence,
July 22, 1792, giving no address, which shows

* Archives Nationales, Emigration (Seine), Police Gene-
rale, Serie F', 5,612.

DURING THE REVOLUTION 229

that he has business relations with Mile. Bertin ;
(6) three other letters written by Citizeness Bertin
to her establishment in Paris, only one of which is
dated from Brussels, August 24, which give an
account of her transactions abroad, and of the sums
of money she is sending to meet her expenses in
Paris ; (7) a receipt given to Citizen Ibert, for the
sum of 15,394 livres 16 sols 8 cleniers, dated Paris,
July 31 , 1792, and signed by Omont for Mile. Bertin ;

(8) a certificate from the Commissioner of Police of
the district of Butte-des-Moulins, dated October 26,
1792, showing that he delivered a passport, dated
28th of the previous June, to Citizeness Bertin, who
has taken with her to Frankfort four dressmakers to
assist her in her business, according to her declaration ;

(9) finally an acknowledgment, signed by two ad-
ministrators of the Department of Paris, dated Epinay,
October 26, 1792, stating that they have received
from Citizen Nicolas Bertin a certificate of the
district of Butte-des-Moulins, testifying to the non-
emigration of his aunt, bourgeoise of Epinay, residing
in Paris, Rue de Richelieu ;

" The Procurator-General being advised —
" The Directoire, considering that Citizeness Bertin
has merely absented herself from France upon busi-
ness, Decrees, in conformity with Article 6 of the law
of April 8 last, that the seals placed upon the house
belonging to Citizeness Bertin, situated at Epinay,
shall be removed, and that she shall be reinstated in
possession of all the furniture and effects of the said

230 ROSE BERTIN

house. Power is given to the Council of the district
of Saint- Denis to carry the present decree into
execution."

No further obstacle remained to Mile. Bertin's
return to France.

On December 5, 1792, she reappeared in Paris, and
hastened to set about the settlement of certain matters
— made appointments, sent out bills, wrote letter
upon letter ; her days were passed in a fever of haste.
She lived in anxious impatience of a morrow which
might be charged with fear, and which would infallibly
be disastrous ; thus the dark December days were to
her mind both too long and too short — too short for
all she had to settle, too long for her burning desire
to have done.

On December 5 she wrote to a certain Thomassiny
of Saint-Germain, asking whether he had received
instructions to pay the sum of 9,996 livres upon a
bill signed by the Portuguese Minister at Stockholm,
Fernando Correa, payable on January 1, 1793. On
December 24 she again wrote to Thomassiny, stating
that she had waited a week for his answer, and re-
questing him to remit the money during the course
of the following week. He did not comply with her
request, and on January 11, 1793, Rose wrote again,
pressing for an appointment, but Thomassiny still
continued to evade her.

Rose Bertin^s importunate letters suddenly ceased,
and on February 15, 1793, Martin court took the
matter up and wrote for an appointment. It was

DUCHESSE D ANGOULEME

To face page ii30

DURING THE REVOLUTION 231

Martincourt again who, on February 12, sent in a list
in Mile. Bertin's name of the principal debts clue to
her from the ^migr^s, to the office for the liquidation
of the debts of the e^migr^s.

What had taken place between January 11 and
February 12 ? Rose Bertin had again left Paris.
The condemnation and execution of Louis XVI.
(January 15-21) were connected with this sudden
decision. Rose had understood that the Queen's
fears were not groundless, that she had clearly seen
the position, and had been right in advising her to
leave France. Rose had grasped the fact that she
was no longer safe, that she, too, had exercised a
certain royal power, costly and frivolous, and that
the debts of the Queen's household might rise against
and crush her. Did not the brother of the celebrated
Leonard fall a victim to the Terror ?

Besides, she had a retreat already prepared in
London, where she had stayed on several occasions,
and from whence she would be free to superintend
her foreign commerce. We learn from a letter of
Martincourt's, dated March 14, 1793, that Rose had
indeed taken refuge in London. " Mile. Bertin left
me in charge of her affairs before her departure for
London, where she now is,"''^ he wrote to the
Marquise de Mesmes, who owed the Bertin estalJish-
ment a sura of 482 livres 5 sols for orders carried
out l)etween 1777 and 1786.

She left without advertising the fact, telling merely
* Collection J. Doucet, Rose Bertin, Dossier 482.

232 ROSE BEETIN

a few well-tried friends of her intention, being
particularly careful not to let it be suspected in
Abbeville, her native town, where she was well known,
the danger being even greater there than elsewhere.
The worthies who ruled the town were, according to
Count Alexandre de Tilly, the *' most arrant dema-
gogues," though they were far from being equal to
those who terrorized Arras, Cambrai, and other pro-
vincial towns. But Rose considered it prudent, and
she was no doubt right, to preserve the strictest
incognito in passing through.

Nevertheless, she let even her own household
believe that, as on the previous occasion, the journey
was undertaken for business purposes. We learn
this from a letter which her servant Colin wrote her
on March 19, communicating the result of a lawsuit
between herself and a certain Constard de Villiers
which had been settled the previous day : " I am
delighted, mademoiselle, to give you satisfactory news
of a country where your presence is expected and de-
sired by all those who, like myself, are devoted to you."

"During my stay in Brussels" (August, 1792),
writes the Countess of Dantzic, Ambassadress of
Prussia, " Mile. Bertin undertook various orders for
me, which she finally caused to be executed by a
dressmaker of Paris, informing me that pressing
business had compelled her to leave that night
for London, from whence she hoped to return
shortly."^ She probably hoped that events would

* Collection J. Doucet, Rose Bertin, Dossier, 178 bis.

DURING THE REVOLUTION 233

occur which would facilitate her return, and that her
exile would be a short one, instead of which this
voluntary exile became a compulsory one/'

Her enemies, perhaps those whose envy she had
aroused, or even perhaps her debtors, denounced her,
accused her of having emigrated. In virtue of the
law of March 28, 1793, she was again entered on the
list of refugees, and seals replaced on her property.
She could no longer think of returning to France
until her position had been again explained and
recognized ; she was under the rigour of the law, and
we know what such rigour could mean.

All she could do was to keep up her establishment
in Paris, by remitting such sums of money as she was
able to collect abroad upon the numerous sums owing
to her.

Thus the establishment of the Rue de Richelieu
seems to have resisted the storm more or less, which
the following lines, written by Martincourt to the
Countess Jules de Rochechouart on August 17, 1793,
seem to prove :

" The persons who have the management of Mile.
Bertin s shop forgot to mention, when you were
there, a bill of 1,561 livres 2 sols. . . .*

The persons who had the management of
Mile. Bertin's shop must have found time hang
heavily on their hands, when most of the great

* Collection J. Doucet, Dossier 609.

234 ROSE BERTIN

milliners and costumiers had been compelled to close
their doors, having nothing to do !

An Englishwoman, Helen Mary Williams, has
given an able description of the state of mind of the
women of that period — a state of mind which amply
explains the paralysis of all trade in articles of
dress.

"Frenchwomen," she says, ** cherish the glory of
their country as much as women of other nations ; and
if our Englishwomen deck themselves with Duncan
dresses, Prince of Orange ribbons, in honour of valiant
leaders, Frenchwomen wore Belle Poule bonnets or
hats d la Grenade^ a la d'Estaing, a la Fayette, or
even to the honour of M. Necker — an unmistakable
proof of their devotion to the heroes and statesmen of
their nation. It is true that there have been no
fashions in honour of the new regime, but the
Revolution, in their eyes, was an event of which the
success was doubtful and the result to be feared. The
Republic which has been the outcome of it has often
worn a severe and threatening aspect, which has
filled men with awe ; is it surprising that my sex has
repulsed its fraternal embrace ?"

A few customers came now and again to make
modest purchases. Thus the establishment supplied
Mme. d'Epr^m^nil, on April 25, 1793, with a bridal
hat of the value of 3 livres. What irony ! After
decking all the nobility of Versailles and Europe in
brocade, silk, and jewels, to be reduced to receiving
mediocre customers and supplying them with cheap

DURING THE REVOLUTION

235

little bridal hats, at a price which fishwives would
have mocked at !

In fact, the establishment was only kept up to
enable Martincourt to liquidate the property.

Shortly after the execution of the King, the
Commune of Paris, in virtue of the law of August 12,
1792, settled all bills for goods supplied to the
Temple during the last four months of 1792. The
bills presented by Rose Bertin, who was instructed to
send them to the Temple, and of which we have
already spoken, form part of a packet preserved
among the Archives Nationales.*

The first is a document which runs as follows :

=*Law of August 12, 1792.

*' Statement of Sums to he paid
Persons Jor Certain Outlays for
Toiver of the Temple :

Item : To Citizens
Bertin (citizeness), dressmaker
Bosquet, tailor
Boulanger-Blet, grocer
Destrumel, glass-seller
Durand junior, locksmith
Gatineau, coal-merchant
Giot, shoemaker
LabouUee, perfumer ...
Lefebvre and Thoret, linen-drapers
Le Roy, fruiterer

to the folloiving
the Service of the

Livres a. d.

602 0 0

1 ,427 5 7

300 0 0

600 0 0

1,445 12 0

305 0 0

48 0 0

144 17 0

1,392 0 0

680 0 0

*" Archives Nationales, F^ 1,311. Signature du 7 A vril,
1793.

236 ROSE BERTIN

Livres ». d.

Mulard, proprietor of a restaurant ... ... 960 11 0

Pazzy, tailor ... ... ... ... ... 144 0 0

Piquet, porter of the stable of the mounted

guard ... ... ... ... ... 109 4 0

Rasse, formerly chef of the kitchen, for

nineteen days' wages ... ... ... 211 2 0

Simon, laundry man ... ... ... ... 1411 0

Wolff, shoemaker ... ... ... ... 169 0 0

Total 8,533 2 7

" In name of the Republic Commissaries, etc., cause
payment to be made, in accordance with the decrees
of the Council- General of the Commune of Paris of
November 18, 1792, January 10 and March 4 last,
of the sum of 8,533 livres 2 sols 7 deniers, to the
persons named in the above, according to the sum
due to each respectively, for work done and goods
supplied for the service of the Tower of the Temple
during the four last months of 1792 j the said sum
of 8,533 livres 2 sols 7 deniers to be paid from the
500,000 livres which, by the law of August 12, 1792,
were allotted for the expenses of the ex-King and his
family.

"Given at Paris, April 7, 1793, in the second
year of the Republic."

This account is followed by another for goods
supplied during the first two months of 1793, but
only Boulanger, Gatineau, Le Roy, and Mulard are
named therein.

The same packet further contains the following
decree :

DURING THE REVOLUTION 237

" Commune of Paris ^ March 4, 1793, second year of the
French Republic, one and indivisible. Extract from
the Registers of the Deliberations of the Council-
General.

"The Council- General, having considered the
report of the commission charged with the exam-
ination of the accounts of the Temple,

" Decrees that the Minister of the Interior shall
pay, from the 500,000 livres allotted for the main-
tenance of the family of Louis Capet, to Citizen {sic)
Bertin, merchant, the sum of 602 livres in payment
of the annexed bills, which shall be left annexed to
these presents. For articles supplied in August,
602 livres.

" (Signed) Pache, Mayor ^ President.

" Extract in conformity with the original.

" CouLOMBEAU, Towu Clerk J'

The annexed bills are those which were presented
by Rose Bertin's establishment, amounting, one to
806 livres, the other to 55, making a total of
861 livres, reduced by Verdier, appointed to verify
the accounts of the Tower of the Temple, to
570 livres for the first, and 32 for the second — that
is, the above total of 602 livres. We give them
on the next page :

238 ROSE BERTIN

First Bill : No. 1^, furnished by Bertin^ Dressmaker

Item ; Livres.

August 12, 1792 : A gauze bonnet with blonde

lace and pink ribbon ... ... ... 27 42

A gauze bonnet with tulle and white gauze

ribbon ... ... ... ... ... 30 44

Three fichus of English gauze at 16 livres... 36 48
Two wide demi-fichus of gauze of Cham-
berry at 10 livres ... ... ... ... 14 20

Four large demi-fichus of embroidered

Organdy at 27 Hvres 84 108

A skirt of very fine open-work embroidered
Indian muslin, containing five breadths . . .
One piece of wide white ribbon
One piece of narrow ditto ...
One white favour
One short cambric cloak trimmed with

stitched bands
Two cardboard boxes
August 19, 1792 : A short cloak of black taffeta

with trimming of the same ... ... ... 40 54

August 29, 1792 : One shape for a Malines

bonnet, lined with lawn ... ... ... 16 30

September 5, 1792 : One shape for a Malines

bonnet, lined with lawn, and fichu ... ... 16 30

570 806

Seen and verified by us. Commissioner of the
Accounts of the Temple.

Livres.

806
570

240

100

Reduction . . . 236

— Verdier.

DURING THE REVOLUTION 239

Second Bill : Furnished hy Bertin^ Dressmaker.

Item : Livres.

September 13, 1792 : Shape and trimming of a

bonnet with lawn fichu ... ... ... 5 9

A fichu of IJ ells of black taffeta with black

satin border ... ... ... ... ... 12 19

September 20, 1792 : Shape and trimming for a

bonnet with lawn fichu ... ... ... 5 9

September 30, 1792 : Shape and trimming for

lawn bonnet ... ... ... ... ... 5 9

September 5, 1792 : Shape and trimming for lawn

DonneL ... ... ... ... ... ... o o

32 55

This bill was omitted from the memoradum of C.
Cleri, and should follow No. 16 of said memo-
randum.

Livrea.

Reduction ... 23

Verdier.

In the same packet (F^, 1,311) there is another
statement for this period, in which figures a bill for
115 livres 17 sols owing to Mme. Pompey, milliner ;
the document gives the name as Lompey. Rose
Bertin was therefore not the only milliner who was
permitted to supply the needs of the ladies of the
Temple. There was still another, a Mme. Augier,
who gives her address as No. 22, Rue Saint-Nicaise,
two of whose bills for articles supplied, one of
August and September, 1792, the other of January,

240 ROSE BERTIN

1793, are also preserved among the National Archives
(F^, 1,313). The first is for 518 livres 6 sols, the
second for 49 livres.

After October 5, 1792, there is no further mention
of any articles supplied to the Temple by the Bertin
establishment. There may have been others, but the
bills had not been presented when there was question
of beginning proceedings against the Queen. It is
related that the dressmaker, knowing that an in-
quiry was to be made, and being aware beforehand
in what spirit the commissioners would carry out
their inquiry, was known to have been greatly
agitated one evening.

Her account-books still showed heavy sums due
from Marie- Antoinette. To erase or write over these
was an impossibility ; the commissioners would have
discovered the deception without difficulty^ and the
Queen be even more compromised in the eyes of
Fouquier-Tinville. There was but one way of
effacing the Queen's debts, and that was by destroying
all proof of them ; but to do this meant that all
entries of sums due from other clients which figured in
those books would be equally destroyed, and the loss
was very considerable. Torn by personal interest
and by gratitude towards Marie- Antoinette for the
favours she had showered on her, for the fortune she
had earned through her patronage, for the world-wide
reputation she had acquired thanks to the Queen —
a glory which, though dead, still flattered her pride- —
Rose Bertin never hesitated, her generous nature did

DURING THE REVOLUTION 241

not shrink from this supreme effort, and with her own
hands she burnt all account-books which contained
sums of mone}^ still due from Marie- Antoinette. This,
at least, is the story that was spread abroad, and which
she was careful not to deny. The Marquise de
Courtebourne alluded to it in 1817 when writing to
Grangeret, lawyer for Rose Bertin's heirs :

" Mile. Bertin was the soul of delicacy and up-
rightness, according to what I have always heard.
Her conduct towards our unfortunate Queen amply
proved it."

However, what she succeeded in hiding or destroy-
ing could not have been of any great importance.
The Revolutionary Government could be advised of all
the Queen's expenses up to August 10, 1792, the last
unpaid bills of the two last years of Louis XYI.'s
reign being in the hands of Henry, liquidator of the
civil estate, and the expenses contracted in the Temple
could be easily checked by the gaolers of the royal
prison. All she could have done, therefore, would
have been to come to an understanding with Henry
not to produce the bills he held, which is perhaps
what happened, as these unpaid bills cost the dress-
maker more than 35,000 livres, still unrecovered at
the time of her death.

But there was no question of a suit against the
Queen when the dressmaker was in Paris in December,
1792, and January 1793; she could not, therefore, have
burnt the books with her own hands at the time of
the process, as she was then in London, and unable to

242 ROSE BERTIN

return to France, where new measures had been taken
against all French subjects whose names were
inscribed on the list of emigres.

She had been already eight months in London, when
on September 17, 1793, the law against suspects was
passed, which law was directed against those citizens
who had emigrated since July, 1789, and even against
those who had returned to France within the term
fixed by the law of April 8, 1793. A decree issued
by the Council -General of the Commune on Octo-
ber 16, 1793, the very day of Marie- Antoinette's
execution, increased the difficulty of the merchants of
Paris who, like Rose, were abroad, by ordaining that
every merchant, established at least a year, who left
his business would be considered as a suspect, and
arrested as such.*

How was it possible to return to France under
such circumstances ? How escape the vigilance of
the police, who were already armed with the decree
issued by the Assembly on March 29, 1793, ordaining
that " all landlords and principal tenants of houses
should be compelled to affix on the outside of their
doors, in a prominent position and in legible letters,
the names, surnames, ages, and professions, of all
individuals actually or habitually residing on their
premises."!

There was certainly no chance of slipping through
the tight meshes of the net woven by the police of

* " Actes de la Commune."

t Dauban, " La Demagogic en 1793.''

# mm;

■ -3i^ ■ 1 ,1;

i^-

PRINCESSE DE LAMBALLE

To face page -4'J

DURING THE REVOLUTION 243

the Revolution to catch all suspects. For the second
time Rose's absence saved her from witnessing a
tragic scene, which, like the murder of the Princesse
de Lamballe, and even more so, would have cruelly
pierced her heart, and which, from the route followed
by the cortege which escorted Marie- Antoinette to
the guillotine, she must inevitably have partly
witnessed.

As the fatal car passed along the Rue Saint-
Honore the ex-Queen could see only strange faces
at the window of Rose Bertin's old house. Perhaps
she thought, however, of the day when, on her way
to Notre Dame, she turned in her carriage to applaud
her dressmaker.

Since then Rose Bertin had transferred her estab-
lishment to some distance ; but the whole route was
full of painful memories for the Queen. At the
corner of the Rue de Richelieu, thinking of the far-
distant days of Trianon, perhaps she saw once more
a young and pretty woman, followed by an elegant
and joyous Court, walking in the shady alleys, letting
the train of her flowered lawn dress sweep the first
dead leaves strewn on the ground.

Where were the light dresses, the state costumes,
puffs and feathers ? What had become of all the
articles of clothing consigned to the Temple ? Into
whose hands had they fallen ? The inventory of the
Queen's effects after her execution mentions but one
head-dress, a lawn one.

What remained of past elegance and luxury ?

244 ROSE BERTIN

What had become of that society which for so many-
years had besieged Mile. Bertin s establishment, and
made it possible for her to live in grand style ? The
guillotine had ruined her trade by decimating the
remnant of her customers, already much diminished
by emigration. She had lost large sums of money ;
the majority of the fugitives, in the hurry of flight,
had no time or no means to pay their debts. The
Princesse de Lamballe had been murdered ; the
Duchesse d'0rl6ans was prisoner ; the guillotine had
claimed Marie- Antoinette, Mme. Elizabeth, Mme. Du
Barry, General de Custine, President d'Ormesson, etc.;
Mme. Auguier, Lady-in- Waiting to the Queen, had
killed herself by jumping from a window of the
Tuileries for fear of being arrested.

On the other hand, the list of ^niigr^s grew daily
longer. Amongst others the Bertin establishment
could count the Countess Beon de Beam, of the suite
of Mme. Adelaide ; the Countess de Bercheny ; the
Marchioness and Duchess Choiseul ; the Marchioness
de Chabrillant ; the Duchess d'Harcourt ; Mile.
Dillon ; Baron Duplouy ; Count and Countess de
Durras ; the Count de Thiard, first Equerry of the
Duke d'Orleans ; the Countess de Gonzague ; the
Countess de Laage ; Count Auguste de Lamarck ;
the Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg ; the Mar-
chioness of Marboeuf ; the Marchioness of Margency;
the Marchioness and Countess de Menou ; the
Countess de Montalembert ; Baron Nansouty ; Vis-
countess de Polastron; the Marchioness de Pompignan;

THE LIST OF EMIGRES 245

Viscountess de Preissac ; the Duchess de Polignac ;
Count d'Artois ; the Princess de Rochefort ; the
Countess de Pochechouart ; the Marchioness de
Tonnerre ; Countess de Yergennes ; and even a
costumier of Dijon named Th6venard, who died on
August 20, 179o, in the hospital of the army of the
Prince de Conde at Schifferstadt. He had figured
amone: Rose Bertin's clients — at least since 1782.

Those who were not dead or who had not emigrated
burrowed underground ; there, in cardboard boxes
covered with tissue paper, slept in dusty graves the
last finery received from Rose Bertin.

Meanwhile the s^reat dressmaker's accent carried on
an active campaign in Paris for the recovery of sums
of money still owing from emigreSy and produced his
bills at the office for the liquidation of their estates ;
while Rose Bertin endeavoured as far as possible to
collect debts owing to her in foreign countries.

Thus on February 13, 1793, she remitted from
London the sum of 9,762 livres, and on May 23 of
the same year 20,000 livres ; on May 27 another
2,000 livres, and again on August 28 13,091 livres.
Still another 14,000 livres was remitted by her, as
is shown by a report preserved among the National
Archives,* and a note is appended to the effect that
" Citizeness Marie- Jeanne Bertin has made payments
in her Paris establishment, from July, 1792, to

* Archives Nationales, Comitd de Surete Generale, Serie
F"^, 4,596, et Emigration (Seine), Pohce Generale, Serie F*^,
5,612.

246 ROSE BERTIN

the close of December, 1793, Old Style, amounting to
475,343 livres 4 sols 8 deniers, to poor Sans-Culotte
workmen, workers on gauze, ribbons, flowers, feathers,
embroideries, workgirls, nearly all burdened with
families."

Among the debts which Martincourt had to recover
were some of very long standing. The Marquis de
Chabrillant had owed a sum of 378 livres since the
year 1779. The Marquis, who was a favourite with
women, frequented the wings, and had had lor
mistress successively Rosalie Loguerre and Mile.
Guinard, of the Opera. No doubt the article ordered
in the Rue Saint- Honore, and for which he forgot
to pay, was for one of them. He was not the
only one who suffered from forgetfulness of this
kind.

The Marchioness de Bouill6, who died in 1803
without paying any part of her debt to Rose Bertin,
had opened an account in 1774, which in 1786 stood
at 6,791 livres. The Countess de Salles owed the
sum of 1,148 for goods supplied between the years
1778 and 1781 ; the Count and Countess Duras
owed 7,386 livres for articles supplied dui^ing the
years 1774 to 1789 ; Count Auguste de Lamarck's
bill stood at 1,558 for orders executed between
1774 and 1775; the Chevalier de Saint-Paul owed
1,343 livres for orders given for a friend of the
Princess de Laval in 1778. Vicountess Polastron
had left a balance of 19,960 livres owing ; Princess
de Rochefort, 10,904 livres; the Marchioness de

THE LIST OF EMIGRES 247

Tonnerre, a balance of 10,946 livres, part of which
was for articles supplied on occasion of the journey
of the Court to Fontainebleau in 1775.

It is obvious that the recovery of these debts,
which had not been possible w^hile the debtors enjoyed
pensions and incomes, and occupied some of the most
lucrative posts under the monarchy, now became
very problematical, and in fact poor Rose drained a
bitter draught.

After her death her heirs pursued her debtors, and
succeeded in recovering part of the sums still owing
in 1813, in spite of which the bad debts amounted to
490,000 francs.

The position of milliners and costumiers became
steadily worse in Paris ; one by one the shops of the
great dressmakers and milliners closed their doors, as
the orders they received did not even cover their
rents.

Rose Bertin, however, was not easily discouraged,
nor was she given to wasting time in vain lamenta-
tions. She had been bold and enterprising all her
life long, and she remained active throughout the
whole of that period in which people's true value was
discovered. There was no further use for the mask
imposed by worldly society, and souls were laid bare
in all their strength or in all their weakness. The
fogs of the Thames and the smoky atmosphere of
London worked no change in Rose's character ; and if
she sometimes grieved at being far from the Rue de
Richelieu, and deprived of the beautiful air of Epinay,

248 ROSE BERTIN

yet she had discovered a way of continuing the active
life she had led in France.

On the one hand she continued to do business with
her foreign clients, and on the other she devoted her
energies to the recovery of debts owing in Russia,
Sweden, Spain, and elsewhere. She was also in
constant communication with Martincourt, but for
this the greatest prudence was required. Thus
" anyone arriving from a distant land, bearing a
letter for the Rue Richelieu, had first to discover,
before setting out in search of it, that it was now
called Rue de la Loi ; to ask for it by its former name
laid one open to arrest, and aroused suspicion."*

Rose made use of a young Englishman, with whose
mother she was living, as bearer to her agent of the
bill owmg by the Countess de Dantzic, Ambassadress
of Prussia. We have already spoken of the letter
in which the Countess says : *' During my stay in
Brussels, Mile. Bertin undertook various orders for
me, which she finally caused to be executed by a
dressmaker of Paris, informing me that pressing
business had compelled her to leave for London
that very night, from whence she hoped shortly to
return." These orders were given in August, 1792,
when Rose passed through Brussels, and were
delivered between October 25 and December 16,
according to the date of the bill, which amounted to
2,581 livres, on which is written a note to the effect

'' Duchesse d'Abrantes, " Histoire des Salons de Paris,"
etc., t. iii.

THE LIST OF EMIGRES 249

that it *' is extracted from a little book brought by
the son of a lady with whom Mile. Bertin lived whilst
in London."

She multiplied more and more her letters to clients
in foreign countries, demanding payment of the
moneys due to her. To Fernando Correa, Portuguese
Ambassador at Stockholm, she wrote begging him
to place the sum of 9,996 livres in the hands of M. de
Chapeau - Rouge, banker of Hamburg, and stating
that, as she was soon going to that town, she hoped
to find that the sum had been deposited with her
banker ; otherwise she was determined to push on to
Stockholm in order to obtain justice. In any case
she did not find the money, which she greatly needed,
at the Hamburg bank.

She was really pressed at this time, and used every
endeavour to recover her money. M. des Entelles
recalls her passing through Mannheim at this period,
in a letter in which he says : " In exile I frequently
met Mile. Bertin at Mannheim, where we lived, and
for a fortnight we took our meals together daily at
the same inn." * He had been, besides, acquainted with
her a long time, enjoyed her conversation, and remem-
bered with pleasure the time he used to meet her
with the Queen. He adds that later they frequently
met at St. Petersburg.

Her business in Russia was very considerable, and
her relations with Russian high society had been
always ]Deculiarly intimate.

* Collection J. Doucet, Dossier 196.

250 ROSE BERTIN

But before going to Russia, Rose Bertin had
written letter upon letter to explain to her customers
the position to which she had been brought by
political events. In one of her letters of 1797,
addressed to Princess Galitzin, sister of the General,
she says : "The unfortunate circumstances in which
I am placed compel me to profit by the departure of
the Prince de Konrakin, to send you an account for
which I have long waited."*

'* Let me tell you in confidence,'* she wrote again
to Princess Galitzin, "that I lent Count Schou-
valoff* 80,000 livres to prevent him from pawning
that very day his medal, his epaulettes, and his

crosses, "t

This was Count Andr6 SchouvalofF, who died in
1789, and who was very well known in Paris, where he
lived in great style — too great, as we may see. He
frequented literary circles, and Marmontel, Helvetius,
Chamfort, La Harpe, and Voltaire, were among his
acquaintances, and he was an assiduous guest in
Mme. du Deffant's salon. It was he who wrote the
'' Epitre a Ninon,'* which was attributed to Voltaire.
But he did not limit himself to these social visits,
which would not have caused him to exceed his
income to the extent of being compelled to pawn his
most precious possessions. Thus, while the Russian
nobles led a reckless life in Paris, leaving many of
their feathers in places of pleasure where one is

* Collection J. Doucet, Dossier 59^ bis.
t Ihid.^ Dossier 649.

THE LIST OF EMIGRES 251

ruined and plucked, and making a display of luxury
far beyond their means, they obtained financial
support from the milliner, who was crazed on them,
and whom they speedily forgot when her generosity
had saved them from the shame of a public
auction.

On June 12, 1793, she appealed to Count
CzernitchefF to pay 8,800 livres, balance of a debt
owed by his parents. The latter at least paid their
debts ; they had owed 21,000 livres, and death alone
had prevented them from paying the balance. " The
confidence which the Count and Countess did me the
honour of bestowing on me during twenty years," *
she wrote to their heir in the hope of adding weight
to her claim, but from that side she received nothing
but disappointment.

Ill-fortune seemed to pursue her. On December 20,
1793, the bankers Veuve Lelen et Cie. paid to her
agent in Paris, in payment of the Queen of Sweden's
account, the sum of 20,105 livres ; but the law was
rigid, and Martincourt was compelled to deposit the
money in the National Exchequer. This payment
was the outcome of a claim forwarded to the King of
Sweden, through Lelen, banker of the Rue des
Jeimeurs, on the 17th of the previous February.
The acknowledgment, signed by Citizen Cornu, is
dated 16 Fructidor, year II. (September 2, 1794),
and Citizeness Bertin figured then on the list of
^migr^Sj as is shown by a letter dated May 27, 1795,
* Collection J. Doucet, Dossier 649.

252 ROSE BERTIN

which says, *' Then inscribed on the list of emigres,''
which proves, on the other hand, that at that date she
had succeeded in getting her name removed from the
list.

Nevertheless the administration continued its work
of confiscation. We find proofs of this activity in
the national records :

" Comdte de SuretS Generate, 14 Prairial, year II,
of the French Repuhlicy 07ie and indivisihte. To the
Commissioners of National Revenues.

" Citizen L. Aumond, — We learn that the person
named Bertin, formerly Court dressmaker, owns a
house near Franciade, independently of the one she
owned at Paris. We call your attention to the measures
it is necessary to adopt, in order to place this property
at the disposal of the Republic.

" The two representatives of the people, members
of the Comite de Surete Generale :

"(Signed) Elie Lacoste.

Louis (of the Lower Rhine).

DUBARRAN, AmAR, YoULLAND." *

The archives of the Seine tell us the result of this
information, supplied by the Comity de Surete
Gdnerale :

* Archives Nationales, Comite de Surete Generale, Serie
F^ 4,596.

3 -^5'

THE LIST OF EMIGRES 253

'^ Equality, Liberty.

" The Administrators of Registration and of National
Estates. To Citizen Gentil, Director, Paris. Paris,
3 Messidor, year II. of the French Republic^ one
and indivisible.

"The Commissioners of the National Revenues have
informed us that they are advised by the Comite
de Surete Gen^rale that the woman Bertin, dress-
maker, emigree, possessed a house near Franciade
independently of the one she owned in Paris ; that
they have written to the department to discover
whether both these properties are in the hands of the
nation ; and if they are not, the commissioners
recommend us to take such measures as are necessary
to carry the matter into execution.

** You will please write to our agent at Franciade,
to know whether the country-house owned by the
dressmaker Bertin is in the hands of the Republic ;
of what the house consists ; what use has been made
of it ; whether it is furnished, and whether seals have
been placed on it by the district ; in which case
whether it is proposed to make an inventory and
proceed with the sale thereof. You will instruct
him to furnish this information as early as possible,
and you will kindly forward it to us.

'' We request you to report to us also the measures
that have been taken with respect to the house in
Paris."

[Here the signatures follow.]

254 ROSE BERTIN

The Director of Registration, etc., forwarded the
commissioners orders two days later :

*' Paris, 5 Afessidor, year II. of the French Republic^
one and indivisible. The Director, etc., to Citizen
Brute.

" The Commissioners of National Revenues, having
received information from the Comity de Surety
Gen^rale that the woman Bertin, dressmaker, owned
a house near Franciade, wrote to the department to
inquire whether this property is in the hands of the
nation ; and in case it should not be, they recommend
the National Agency to take such measures as may
be necessaiy to carry the matter into execution.

*' In compliance with the desire of the commission,
the administrators of the National Agency wish to
know whether the house in question, which is situated
at fipinay, is in the hands of the Republic ; of what
it consists ; whether it is furnished ; whether the seals
of the district have been placed thereon ; and, in the latter
case, whether it is proposed to make an inventory of
the effects, and to proceed with the sale thereof.

** You will kindly procure this information and
transmit it to me as early as possible."*

The next day a more peremptory order was issued
on the subject :

* Archives de la Seine, Carton 709.

IN LONDON 255

" 6 Messidor, year II.

" Le D. de l'Ad. au C. Sapinant.

'' You will please to take the necessary proceed-
ings against the emigres Bertin, formerly dressmaker.
You will report to me what you have done in this
matter."

Meanwhile Rose Bertin had opened a shop in
London, very modest in comparison with her estab-
lishments of the Rue Saint-Honore and the Rue
Richelieu. There she executed the orders of her
foreign customers. ^' Despatched from London on
June 25, 1794, to the Countess," we read in a state-
ment of articles supplied to the Countess de Razon-
mowsky. In any case Rose Bertin displayed an
energy which might have served as an example
to other emigres.

But events succeeded events with lightning speed.
The Revolutionary Tribunal had turned its blood-
stained hand upon itself It might still relentlessly
pursue its accursed work, striking blindly, heaping
up corpses ; Death strode through the courts, threaten-
ing equally judges and accused. Carts might follow
each other along the road to the scaffold, and
7 Thermidor might still sweep away more of Rose's
old clients ; indeed, the Count de Clermont-Tonnerre,
the Count de Thiard, Princesse de Chimay, whom
Rose used frequently to meet when she was Lady-in-
Waiting to Marie- Antoinette, were among the last

256 ROSE BERTIN

batch of victims. Still, the Terror was over, Robe-
spierre fell on the morrow, and France began once
more to breathe, to hope, to live.

The news of the tyrant's death rejoiced Rose, who
began to see some possibility of returning to Paris.

She redoubled her efforts to have her name struck
off the list of emigres. Claude Charlemagne, one of
her nephews, and Martincourt, her devoted agent,
showed praiseworthy energy in their endeavour to
attain this object.

A first petition was drawn up and addressed to
the Directoire of the Department of Paris : *

" Citizeness Bertin, dressmaker of Paris, owed con-
siderable sums to workmen and artisans, true Sans-
Culottes, whom she has employed over twenty years.
Seeing that her trade in France was absolutely
paralyzed, she procured a passport and went into
foreign lands to vsell the merchandise remaining to
her, the sale of which was absolutely necessary in
order to meet her liabilities.

"The events of the war prevented her from selling
her merchandise as promptly as she desired, and she
was face to face with the unhappy alternative of
prolonging her stay in a foreign land or of failing
her creditors.

" Some ill-disposed persons, no doubt her debtors,
perhaps some ci-devants, denounced her as an emigre

* Archives Nationales, Comite de Surety Generale,
Serie F^, 4,596.

■:;vi***ar> *. i - *• .*^"

•■IfU-iTT '•if ¥*\. ■ .•

V,.4J^*^

MADAME TALLIEX

Til face page -'i>'>

IN LONDON 257

in the month of October, 1792. She then had
recourse to your justice, and after a thorough ex-
amination you decided, by a decree of November 27,
1792, that she was still entitled to her civil rights.
Since that time she has continued to send remittances
to her establishment in Paris, and by means of the
persons in charge of her affairs she was able to pay
475,343 livres to her creditors, who were for the
most part necessitous, and whom she would have
brought to ruin with her, if she had not adopted
the project of seeking in foreign lands a sale for
her goods, which she could not hope to find in her
own country.

'' Nevertheless, certain insincere debtors refusing to
pay her, supposing her to be an emigree, in contempt
of the decree of the Directoire, which declares her
to be in possession of her estate, she thinks well
to bring her case before the administration and again
claim justice, petitioning that her name be struck off
the list of emigres^ if it has been inscribed thereon
through the denunciation of some malicious persons.

"The justice she solicits affects not only the
numerous creditors she has still to satisfy, but also
fourteen of fifteen relations, born like herself without
means, and who have only been able to live these
last twenty years through her help, a burden which,
joined to the bad faith of her creditors, will leave her
barely sufficient to live on.

" She appends a list of the sums she has remitted
to her establishment in Paris since her departure,

258 ROSE BERTIN

and those which the persons who manage her affairs
have paid."

To this petition was annexed a statement of moneys
remitted from Frankfort and London, of which we
have spoken ; a note of sums paid to different work-
people and tradesmen, amounting to a total of 73,503
livres 19 sols 3 deniers ; and another statement of
payments made, from which we have extracted the
following :

Livres.
A receipt from Citizen Moreau, merchant, of blonde

lace ... ... ,,, ... ... ... K)K)y3'^0

Three receipts from the district of La Montagne —

a voluntary gift ... ... ... ... ... 300

Two receipts from Epinay for the war fund ... 75

Three receipts for State lands ... ... ... 12,400

A receipt from a mason of Epinay for the boundaries

of State lands ... ... ... ... ... 360

A receipt from the surveyor respecting the said

lands ... ... ... ... ... ... 100

Gift of six new shirts to the Montagne district,

29 Brumaire.

She did not forget, we see, to mention the divers
patriotic gifts she had made, nor the purchase of
lands at Epinay, confiscated from the Mathurins
d'Emile (Montmorency). Were not these things
proofs of a good citizen ?

Nevertheless, the first petition did not meet with
the success its authors expected. The matter was
referred to the Comite de Surete Generale.

The administrators of the Department of Paris

IN LONDON 259

appointed to inquire into the merits of Rose Bertin's
appeal, while recognizing the justice of it, dared not
formally commit themselves.

The following letter reveals the motives of their
hesitation :*

" Office of the Claims of Emigres : Bertin, dress-
maker. Department of Paris^ Paris, 7 Fructidor,
year II. of the French Republic, one and indivisible.
The cidministi^aiors of the Department of Paris to
the citizens representing the people, composing the
Comite de S'drete Generale of the National Conven-
tion.

" Citizens, — A decree of the Directoire dated
September 27, 1792, founded on Article 6 of the law
of April 8, relating to merchants, ordered the removal
of the sequestration from the property of Citizeness
Bertin, formerly dressmaker to the Capets.

" Since when, in virtue of the law of March 28,
1793, she was again entered on the list of emigres^
and the seals replaced on her estate.

" She now demands their withdrawal and the re-
moval of her name from the list, on the ground that
she went abroad in July, 1792, with a passport, in
order to recover immense sums of money due to her.
She is still actually in England, from whence she has
remitted nearly 500,000 livres to her business
establishment, of which 80,000 appear to have been

* Ai'chives Nationales, Emigres, Serie F', 3,361.

260 EOSE BERTIN

paid to honest Sans-Culotte workmen, who have been
in her employ for twenty years ; she declares that
her prolonged and compulsory residence in England
is entirely due to her desire to meet her liabilities,
and to pay the necessitous workpeople to whom she
still owes considerable sums.

" We think, citizens, that the law of March 28
in no way touches the woman Bertin, since she left
with a passport and for the purpose of commerce ;
and that the desire she has manifested, of satisfying
her creditors and necessitous workpeople, might be
a reason for exempting her from the law of October 23,
1792 ; but as this woman by her profession was in
touch with the Court and nobility, we have delayed
our judgment until we learn your decision, and have
ascertained whether there exists anything against her
which might cause her to be suspected of conspiracy
and counter-revolution.

" Your answer will serve us as guide.

" (Signed) Garnier.

E. J. B. Maillard.

HOUZEAU.

Damesme."

The matter being thus referred to the Comite de
Surete Generale, the petitioners drew up another
memorandum, in which they said :*

* Archives Nationales, Comite de Surete Generale,
Serie F?, 4,596.

m LONDON 261

"The relations and creditors of Citizeness Bertin
claim justice in her name from the Comit6 de Siirete
Gdn^rale.

" She left the country having complied with the
legal formalities respecting merchants, has taken with
her four work-girls, with passports from their district
signed by the Municipality of Paris, being in the
habit of sending employees abroad, as may be seen by
her books.

*' An error, no doubt, caused her name to be placed
on the list of emigres, although in September, 1792,
the department issued a decree in her favour which
restored her to her civil estate ; and hut for the war,
which prevented her disposing of her merchandise as
soon as she desired, she would have already returned,
bringing the greater part of such sums as were owing
her abroad.

"The conspirator Momoro, enemy of the Republic,
and opposed to all advantages which commerce would
bring to it, made a statement to the department by
which, although unable to denounce her as an SmigrSy
since she had complied with all the formalities of the
law respecting merchants, nevertheless, pursuing
his infamous counter-revolutionary projects, he has
caused the case to be transferred to the Comite de
Surete Generale, which has delayed for three months
the payment of a hundred fathers of families, creditors
of this citizeness ; it was hojDed that this would rouse
them to discontent, but one cannot believe that the
great principles which are the glory of the Comite de

262 ROSE BEETIN

Silretd Gdn^rale, and the security o£ republicans, will
allow an individual to be regarded as suspect, who
by her talents has made the national commerce
flourish, and has brought considerable sums into
France, and who now, at the age of fifty, compels our
enemies to be tributaries to our industry, and ex-
change their gold against the bullets the Republic
fires upon them.

" Her desire to return is a proof of her love of her
country and of her civicism, since she might set up a
profitable establishment with her merchandise and
funds, did she not prefer above all a modest com-
petence in her own country, where she has bought
State lands, notably 23 acres in Epinay, on the eve
of her departure, which, after paying her debts, will
be all she possesses.

" Her relations make no mention of all the gifts
her establishment has made to her district, in money,
shirts, and every kind of article for expenses of war.

" The Committee will please observe that but for
the latter event this citizen would have returned to
France more than six months ago, with the greater
part of the sums owing to her, which will be lost to
the Republic if the Comit6 de Surety G^n^rale does
not render her justice according to the law.'^

It will be noticed that the petitioners make no
mention of Mile. Bertin's reappearance in Paris
during the winter of 1792-93, from which it appears
probable that she did not get the passport issued in

IN LONDON 263

June renewed before leaving for London ; that she
left France, in fact, rather hastily, the events of
January probably having some connection with her
departure.

The inquiry was energetically pursued, with great
circumspection on the part of the administration, as
would appear from a note from the Committee of
Legislation, as follows :

"N.B. — There exists in the foreign department of
the Committee of Public Health a letter from an
emigre in which there is some mention of Citizeness
Bertin.

"It is of the greatest importance that no decision
should be given without this letter being seen. The
Committee of Public Health should be asked for a
copy."

The letter evidently contained nothing which
might compromise the dressmaker, as on January 16,
1795, after two years' exile in England, she obtained
the followinof decree :

'^27 Nivose, year III. of the French Republic.

" Having seen the memorial from Citizeness Marie-
Jeanne Bertin, dressmaker o£ Paris, requesting that
her name be effaced from the list of emigres.^ and the
seals removed from her country-house at Epinay ;
together with — (1) The decree of the Directoir, dated
November 27, 1792, reinstating her in possession of
her furniture at Epinay, and other property therein
named ; (2) her account-book and a statement of

264 ROSE BERTIN

sums remitted to her establishment of Paris since her
departure, amounting to nearly 500,000 livres ;

(3) a statement of payments made to her workpeople
and artisans, amounting to nearly 80,000 livres ;

(4) a file of bills of exchange discharged since her
absence ; (5) another file of receipts relating to State
property which she has acquired ; (6) a file of receipts
for patriotic gifts to the war fund; (7) minute of a
letter written on 7 Fructidor, addressed to the
Comit^ de Surety G^n^rale, to ascertain whether there
was any suspicion of counter-revolution or conspiracy
against Citizeness Bertin ; (8) the answer of the
Comite, dated 19 Yendemiaire, stating that no
denunciation had been made against her; (9) a
certificate from the district of Butte-des-Moulins
dated 6 Nivose, verified by the department on the
9th, showing that Citizeness Bertin is known to have
been in the habit for twenty years of going abroad
for business purposes ;

" The Agent National having considered the above ;

" The department, considering that the above docu-
ments prove that Citizeness Bertin is publicly known to
have been in the habit for twenty years of going
abroad to do business, that her absence has been
already declared non-emigration, and that there does
not exist against her any denunciation which might
cause her to be suspect, Decrees that her name shall
be effaced from Section 18 of the list of emigres
drawn up on August 29, 1793 (Y.S. ) ; and, respect-
ing the request that the order for sequestration be

IN LONDON 265

cancelled, refers her to the Office of National Estates
of the Department of Paris, the execution of the
present decree to be delayed, in conformity with
Article 22 of Chapter 3 of the law of the 26th of
last Brumaire, until the decision of the Committee of
Legislation of the National Convention be given, to
which purpose the said decree shall be remitted to the
said Committee and to the Office of National Estates."

The certificate referred to above, given by the
district of Butte-des-Moulins, dated 6 Nivose, is
signed by nine witnesses ; amongst others, Roch Omont,
employd of the Bertin establishment ; Jean-Pierre
Messin, jeweller ; and Pierre- Joseph Richard,
pensioner of the Republic, who resided in Rue de la
Loi, No. 1,243 — that is, the dressmaker's own house ;
and Luc-Joseph-Charles Corazza, a well-known pro-
prietor of a caf^, who lived at No. 12, Maison Eglit6*
— that is, in the Palais-Royal.

The decree of the Committee of Legislation which
definitely removed Marie- Jeanne Bertin 's name from
the list of emigres is dated 11 Pluviose, year III.
(January 31, 1795), and is signed by David de FAube,
rapporteur, Eschasseriaux jeune, Pepin, Louvel,
Duarand-Maillane. f

Rose Bertin therefore, being removed fi-om the
list of emigres, very soon obtained the removal of the

* Archives Nationales, Emigration (Seine), Pohce Gene-
rale, Serie F^, 5,612, et Serie ¥\ 5,837.
t Ibid.

266 ROSE BERTIN

sequestration on her goods, as is shown by documents
preserved among the records of the Seine, dated
7 and 19 Ventose, year III. (February 26 and
March 10, 1795), given below :

" Liberty, Equality.

" The Office of National Estates of the Department of

Paris,

** Having seen (1) the petition of Citizeness Marie -
Jeanne Bertin, dressmaker of Paris, presented by
Citizen Martincourt, her attorney, by which he
demands that the sum of 3,744 livres 6 deniers
should be placed in his hands, which sum was paid
to Citizen Matagnon, Receiver of this office, by
divers tenants of the said Citizeness Bertin, being
the price of the rents of certain houses belonging to
her ;

"(2) Three receipts amounting together to a total
of 3,744 livres 6 deniers, given by Citizen Matagnon,
dated respectively, the first 17 Messidor, year IL,
for the sum of 150 livres, paid by Citizen Marion;
the second dated the 25th of the said month, for the
sum of 3,431 livres 10 sols and 6 deniers, paid by
Citizen Laurent ; and the third dated 26 Frimaire,
year III., for the sum of 162 livres 10 sols, paid by
the same — the said sums being the price of rents
which had fallen due for houses belonging to the said
Citizeness Bertin ;

" (3) The copy of a decree of the Committee of
Leofislation of the National Convention, dated the

IN LONDON 267

11th of last Pluviose, orderino: that the name of the
said Marie-Jeanne Bertin be effaced from the list o£
emigrds, that the sequestration of her property be
withdrawn, and that the sums proceeding from such
sequestration as have perhaps been paid into the
public exchequer be refunded to her :

" Decrees that Citizen Matagnon, Eeceiver of the
said office, shall pay to Citizeness Marie- Jeanne Bertin,
or to Citizen Martincourt, her attorney, the sum of
3,744 livres, which have been paid to him by Citizens
Laurent and Marion, debtors of Citizeness Bertin in
respect of rents, in accordance with the receipts issued
by the said Citizen Matagnon, as aforesaid. Which
reimbursement will be placed to his account upon
annexing a formal receipt to these presents, of which
a copy will be despatched to the Director of Registra-
tion, for execution thereof.

"Given in Paris, 7 Yentose, year IIL of the French
Republic.

" True copy. — (Signed) Guillotin, Remesve."

The reimbursement was ordered to be made under
certain conditions a few days later :

^^ Paris, 19 Ventose, year III. Citizen Gentil to
Citizen Bertho?iy Receiver of the Office of National
Estates,

" In virtue of a decree of the Office of National
Estates of the Department of Paris, bearing date

268 EOSE BERXm

16 Ventose, I beg you will pay to Citizeness
Marie-Jeanne Bertin, or to Citizen Martincourt, her
attorney, the sum of 3,744 livres, paid to you by the
Citizens Laurent and Marion, debtors in respect of
rents to Citizeness Bertin, in accordance with receipts
bearing dates 17 and 25 Messidor, year II., and
26 Frimaire, year III., which reimbursement will
be placed to your account upon annexing a formal
receipt to the said decree.

*' You will advise me of the execution thereof, and,
above all, of the receipt of this letter ; but I inform
you that if there are any expenses either for repairs,
painting, taxes, or any claims raised by the tenants,
the same shall be deducted from the 3,744 livres, as
also such money as is due to the Receiver."

As soon as Rose Bertin heard of the success of the
efforts of her relatives and friends, she began to make
preparations for departure. She said farewell without
regret to the hospitable town where she had taken
refuge, and where she left a whole French colony of
persons of the highest rank, amongst whom she had
more than one customer. This colony led an extra-
ordinary existence ; though they had barely any
means of livelihood, yet they held receptions and
made a great show of dress. How did they keep up
appearance ? Rose Bertin could have given some
explanation of her part in it. Countess de Boigne
has given us a description of the life of the emigres in
London which throws some curious sidelights on

JOURNEY TO LONDON 269

them, and shows to what shifts they were reduced.
" I saw," she says, " the Duchess of Fitz-James,
established in a house in the environs of London,
inviting all her acquaintances to dinner, and retaining
her grand society manner. It was understood that
on leaving the table each guest should put three
shillings in a cup on the mantelpiece. Not only
were the three shillings collected when the com-
pany had left, but if among the guests there had
been anyone who was believed to be in better circum-
stances, he was considered extremely mean if he had
not deposited his half-guinea instead of three shillings,
and the Duchess complained bitterly of it. Never-
theless there was a certain luxury about these
houses."*

They had no means to hire carriages, and so in
grande toilette j and all decked out, they braved the
outside of public vehicles, to the amazement of the
English public. Everything was sacrificed to appear-
ance, to a show of fortune. No one admitted the
possibility of this state o£ things lasting. Anyone
renting apartments for more than a month was
looked on askance ; it was better to take them by the
week, as there was no doubt that one was on the eve
of a counter-revolution which would recall each one
to France."!

Rose Bertin at least saw her wish soon realized.

* " Recits d'une Tante : Memoires de la Comtesse de
Boigne," etc., t. i. Paris, 1907.
t Recits d'une Tante, op, cit.

270 EOSE BERTIN

Nevertheless her position was far from brilliant, and
Martincourt, indefatigable in his endeavours to recover
the sums due to her, could write to the Countess
Skavronsky at Naples, on March 14, 1795, without
lying, and even without exaggerating: "M. Perregaux,
w^hom I saw two days ago, tells me that he has no
funds belonging to you, and has received no order
to pay me ; he also informed me of your loss, of
which Mile. Bertin will be sorry to hear. Circum-
stances have completely ruined that lady, who is
overwhelmed with creditors.""^

It would be a long time before commerce could
recover from the crisis which had darkened so many
fortunes, and ruined numberless enterprises, manu-
factures, and shops, that catered for the rich, and
consequently suffered with the latter. Toilettes were
very humble in the year III., from the accounts of
Josephine de Beauharnais, who was one o£ Rose's
clients. We see that she bought a piece of muslin
worth 500 livres, a shawl worth 270 livres, a large
shawl 1,200 livres, 6 ells of taffeta of Florence grey
at 1,320 livres, and two pairs of grey stockings with
coloured clocks, worth 700 livres. But one must
remember the current value of assignats, the depreci-
ation of which was so considerable that in Messidor,
year III. (July, 1795), the louis d'orof 24 livres was
worth 808 livres in assignats. At this rate the
stockings cost 10 livres 8 sols, which is not, it
is true a bazaar price ; but the large shawl cost
* Collection J. Doucet, Rose Bertin, Dossier 64i6.

JOURNEY TO LONDON 271

38 livres 12 sols, a ridiculous sum, and at such
a rate no establishment could regain lost ground.

The depreciation of paper money continued to
increase, so much so that in the year IV. in Paris the
value of a louis in assignats was 18,000 livres.

This must be taken into account in considering the
formidable sums entered in account-books of the time.
What would have been the value of a hat made
with all the elegance and art of the period of the
unforgettable poufs when 50 livres was asked for
the washing of a shirt, 250 livres for a pound of meat
or tallow, 1,400 livres for a pound of sugar,
2,000 livres for a pair of shoes, 3,000 livres for a
simple hat, 8,000 livres for an ell of Elbeuf cloth,
and 50 livres for a pippin ?

Such was the position of trade when the former
dressmaker to the Queen was about to return to her
Parisian establishment. She left London without
regret ; she could have felt no joy on returning to
Paris.

Her route to the sea lay by Canterbury, where she
broke her journey. Her reason for doing so was
that Baron Duplouy, with whom she continued to be
on friendly terms, had taken refuge there. Baron
Duplouy, of an Abbeville family, was one of her
oldest and most faithful clients, but, like so many
other French ^migr^Sy was in very straitened cir-
cumstances.

''Mile. Bertin," he writes, "on her return to
France from London, passed through Canterbury,

272 ROSE BERTIN

where I was staying with my family, and bought of
me 600 livres* worth of embroidery and other goods,
in which I was trading in connection with a partner
at Hamburg. She promised to pay me this sum
immediately upon my arrival in Paris, from whence
she intended to ask payment of what I owed her,
unless she had been able to see my father-in-law, and
mother-in-law on passing through Abbeville.

" Having succeeded in seeing Mme. de Belloy at
Abbeville, that lady entrusted her with a sum of
100 louis d'or, which she promised to forward to me
on the earliest possible occasion, and which she forgot
to do, forgetting also the money for our merchandise."

It is very improbable that Rose Bertin forgot. The
fact is that Baron Duplouy owed her a considerable
sum, and she was waiting an opportunity of returning
to England to settle the matter. Baron Duplouy
himself relates how the aflPair ended by Baroness
Duplouy's paying 600 livres to Rose. " Having
called on me in Paris with her eldest nephew, M.
Bertin," he says, " to ask for the payment of my
account, allowing for the above-mentioned sums,
which she acknowledged, my wife and I gave her
600 louis.''

Under those circumstances it was not surprising
that Rose Bertin had delayed payment. Immediately
on her return after her interview with Martincourt,
she realized that her business could not prosper while
the position of the country was so uncertain. She
preferred therefore to postpone the re-opening of

JOURNEY TO LONDON 273

her establishment, and during the summer of 1795
she went on a voyage through Europe, during which
she visited Germany and Russia.

Did she or did she not serve as an intermediary
between the emigres and their relatives in France ?
It is impossible to speak with certainty, but that
she gave several of them financial aid has been proved.
Her generous nature, incapable of counting the cost,
was unchanged. So soon as she had recovered some
debt, so soon as she felt some money in her pocket,
the love of spending seized her, the money ran
through her fingers, very often to do good to those
around her, to help some friend or some unfortunate
client. There was no lack of them at this time.

The dmigv^s, as she had learnt by experience,
had great trouble in making both ends meet, kt
Hamburg Mme. de Couchant had opened a dress-
maker's establishment • a Mile, de La Tr^moille
served in it. But all could not turn their hand to
some trade — those who could were the exception —
and Rose was sometimes moved to pity at the sight
of these great ladies reduced to poverty, a poverty
more striking because of the former luxury they had
known.

CHAPTER VII

THE MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA LOI — LAST YEARS

OF ROSE BERTIN

Little by little life resumed its normal course.
Towards the close of 1795 Rose re-opened her shop
in the Rue de la Loi, but she never regained the
fame, the immense fame, she had enjoyed under the
ancien regime. To her the ancieii regime repre-
sented all the enthusiasm of youth, all the flurry
of success, all the happy past, which one does not
enjoy as one might, and which one is powerless to
prevent slipping by — days which leave ^ the dis-
illusioned mind a prey to indescribable sadness and
profound bitterness.

To have started with nothing, to have juggled
with millions, and on the verge of fifty to be
reduced to counting her pence, did not tend to
make Rose look on life with joyous eyes.

Her one consolation was her miniature Trianon

that she had reconquered, her house at Epinay,

which the Revolution had not had time to change,

or which had been, perhaps, protected by local

accomplices. In fact, in 1796 she came to reside

274

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA LOI 275

there more or less permanently, retaining merely a
pied-d-terre in Paris, to enable her to give the
necessary attention to her business, and where she
only stayed in winter.

Souvenirs and relatives were not lacking in the
native village o£ her mother, Marie-Marguerite
Mequignon. The house where she passed the last
years of her life was situated in a place known as
the Village, in the parish of Epinay. It still exists,
and forms part of a house called the Axilla Beau-
Sejour, the entrance of which is in the Rue du Bord
de I'Eau, which descends from the high-road running
from Paris to Havre through Pontoise, to the banks
of the Seine, at a short distance from the castle where
the King of Spain, Don Fran(5isco dAssisi, resided,
and which has been bought by the municipality of
Epinay for an Hotel de Yille.

From the windows the view stretches over the plain
of Gennevilliers to Paris, which lies outlined in the
distance.

The Seine runs at the bottom of the garden walls,
and the neighbouring waters keep the air fresh
and agreeable during the summer heats. Rose
Bertin found here a comfortable, if not luxurious,
retreat.

Epinay was then merely a little village ; since
those days the population has much increased. It
was not a mere whim that had attracted Rose to the
place. She knew that there she would not be isolated ;
she, who had lived in the bustle of the Court, whose

276 ROSE BERTIN

life had been one continual rush, could not be
resigned to living in absolute solitude. On the other
hand, after coming through all the tragedies of the
Revolution, it must have Ijeen consoling to find
herself safe and well amidst her own relations in
the peace of the country.

Several of her relatives lived in Epinay. The
name of M^quignon, her mother^s maiden name, may
still be seen on tombs in the existing cemetery. The
cousins of the great dressmaker had remained faithful
to the place. Besides these, one of her nephews,
Claude - Charlemagne Bertin, also possessed a
property which gave on to the Rue du Bord de I'Eau.
The house, the entrance of which is at No. 1, Rue
de Paris, is now much dilapidated, and is occupied
by families of the working class.

Rose was therefore at very little distance from her
nephew. She spent her days between Paris, where
she superintended her business, and the country,
where she rested.

In spite of all the events which had shaken public
life, her name remained famous, and such was her
fame that a young amorous poet, addressing some
verses to a dressmaker of the Palais- Royal, com-
pared her talent to that of Rose Bertin.

The verses, which appeared in the Petite Poste de
Paris or the Prompt Avertisseur of 8 Pluviose,
year V. (January 27, 1797), were entitled " L*Esprit
k la Mode," and run as follows :

MASSACRE IN THE RUE I)E LA LOI 277

" To Mile, Eulalie, fashionable dressmaker, Galerie de Bois du
Palais- Royal, air of Pourriez-vous hien dodder e^icore . . .

" Chez vous, ou president les graces,
Aimable eraule de Bertin . . .""* etc.

The verses are signed "Marant Junior," and contain
a play of words. An esprit was a little feather which
women then wore in their hair.

Rose Bertin regained some of her customers.
Countess Dillon La Tour du Pin Gouvernet, whose
husband had been Ambassador at the Hague under
Louis XYL, and whose ordinary dressmaker was a
Mile. Gosset residing near the Oddon, but who used
to go to Bertin's for Court dresses, had occasion,
about September, 1797, to come to her shop for
some modest purchases. The conversation between
the two women immediately turned to past days.
Rose had known her client since the latter's infancy.
She spoke a good deal about her position and the
precarious state of trade, a discreet hint as to the
sum still owing her on the part of the Countess.
She was much too diplomatic, however, to broach
the subject brusquely ; she did not sjoeak directly of
the 2,500 livres, of which she nevertheless had great
need. In those uncertain days clients were birds
that were too rare to risk the danger of frightening
them away at the outset.

Nevertheless very few of the great ladies, her
former clients, returned to her shop. Her chief
occupation was still the recovery of old debts, and

278 ROSE BERTIN

the days passed without bringing any great im-
provement.

The fashions of 1797, though still very different
from those o£ the days when Rose was an inspirer
of fashion, were none the less eccentric. After the
restraint which women had been compelled to exer-
cise during the Terror, it would almost seem that
they were endeavouring to find compensation for a
simplicity of which the souvenir recalled days that
were for ever accursed.

In 1794 Vicomtesse de Fars said: "Poverty
reigned among all persons of good birth; those
who had preserved a few golden pieces wore the
livery of indigence, every appearance of luxury
which might arouse a suspicion of wealth had to
be avoided."

In 1797, how^ever, the style of dress was far from
being simple, and the Parisian fashions were a source
of amazement to those newly arrived from the
provinces ; they had great trouble in getting accus-
tomed to them. " The buskins, short waists, low
necks, short sleeves, Greek coiffure," says Mme. de
Chastenay in her memoirs, " all seemed to me so
theatrical that I could not imagine that lienriette
[her young sister] would dare to appear dressed in
this style. My brother, however, insisted upon my
immediately adopting these fashions ; and I was so
provincial that I had great trouble in getting accus-
tomed to them."

There occurred at this time, the beginning of 179 8,

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA LOI 279

an astounding incident, the scene of which was
Mile. Bertin's own house.

A part of the house was let to a Neapolitan ice-
vender named Garchi, whose shop was a fashionable
resort. On January 15, 1798, the shop was invaded
and sacked by a gang of villains, under circumstances
so extraordinary that the tale sounds like a story of
brigands, and shows how very unsafe Paris was at
this time. A pamphlet published on the following
day gives all the details of the drama of the Rue de
la Loi. We cannot do better than to give it in full,
as it is a faithful account of the police reports : *

'^ An Exact and Detailed Report of the Massacre
tvkich took place Last Night in Paris y No, 1,243,
Rue de la Loi, District Butte- des-Moulins, at the
House of Citize7i Garchi, Confectioner and Ice-
Merchant ; the Number of Persons killed and
Assassins arrested, their Names and Addresses,
26^A of the present month of Nivose.

" Towards ten o'clock last evening a party of ten
men wearing long overcoats, some wearing grenadier
caps, entered Citizen Garchi's shop, No. 1,243, Rue
de la Loi, and sat down at one of the long tables of
one o£ the rooms on the first-floor. They each took
an ice and a small glass of liqueur, which they paid
for at once. A minute later two men in uniform,

* Archives Nationales, Police Generale : Affaires Poli-
tiques, Serie F^, A. 6,149.

280 ROSE BERTIN

wearing long coats, came in and sat down at a table
close by.

" No sooner had the latter entered than one of the
first band attacked and grossly insulted in loud
tones one of the last comers. Citizen Garchi in-
stantly^ begged the man to remember the respect
due to a respectable establishment. Upon this
the aggressor retired with the rest of his gang,
and the two others adjourned to the billiard-
room.

" Meanwhile twelve or fifteen men dressed in the
same style came np the staircase just as Citizen
Fournier, Aide-de-Camp of General Augereau, was
leaving with three of his friends. One of the men
who were coming up fixed his eyes on the group of
four, and saying, ' That face displeases me,' struck
one of them a blow on the head. Citizen Fournier
and his friends, as astounded as they were angry,
immediately put themselves on the defensive ; but
more than thirty men, dressed more or less in the
same style, all armed with swords and sticks which
had been hidden under their coats, fell with fierce
blows upon the four men and all whom they found
in the various rooms, about twenty in number,
massacring all whom they came across, and smash-
ing everything round them.

" Several unsuspecting spectators were the principal
victims. Citizen Fournier and his friends are mutilated
by sword-cuts ; Citizen Colavier, merchant, residing
in the Rue Mont Blanc, has a piece of his arm cut

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA LOI 281

away, his left side pierced, his face cut, and his head
and thighs mutilated.

" Citizen Fanatieu, residing at the Hotel de la
Souverainete, Rue de la Loi, has the left thigh cut to
the bone, and all his limbs gashed.

" Citizens Faure, Lierval, Cantin, Chosy, and
Lamotte, are seriously wounded.

" Three other persons, names and whereabouts
unknown, jumped out of the windows for safety,
and although covered with wounds, as they left
traces of blood behind, were attacked again in the
streets by accomplices of the rest ; one ran down
the Rue de la Loi, and the two others down Rue
Montansier.

'' The citizeness who was at the desk in Citizeness
Garchi's absence was so hurt by the assassins who
attacked her that she was covered with blood ; the
white shawl she was wearing, now deposited with the
justice of the peace, was dyed red.

" Another citizeness, who was leaving the establish-
ment, would also have fallen a prey to the assassins,
who were threatening her with their swords, but for
the intervention of one of them who took her under
his protection.

" Citizen Garchi, who had tried every means of
conciliation, and who had already received a con-
siderable number of blows, sought safety in flight,
breaking a pane of glass and precipitating himself
head foremost on to a balcony, and even then the
assassins tried to cut off his legs as he fell.

282 ROSE BEHTIN

'' Citizeness Garchi was in bed in a room on tiie
floor above, it being only six days since her confine-
ment ; hearing the cries of the victims and the shouts
of the assassins, she lost consciousness.

" While their accomplices were engaged in this
wholesale butchery, some of the scoundrels entered
the pantry near the billiard -room, and stole the silver
spoons from the drawers which they rifled, while
one of them held the kitchen boy, with a sword at
his throat.

"A butcher from a neighbouring shop who had
run out to lend assistance was struck down on the
threshold of the house and disabled.

''Marble- top tables, glasses, chairs, statues, and
lamps were smashed, and the enraged monsters used
so much force that a piece of sword-blade, all blood-
stained, was found among the ruins, and it would be
difficult to describe the frightful spectacle which the
apartments presented. The furniture was thrown
down and broken, floors, corridors, and balconies,
were covered with blood, as were even the courtyard
and pavement.

'' It was an hour before an armed force strong
enough to overcome the assassins appeared on the
scene, and then only four were arrested and taken
before the General of the Moulins Division, at his
headquarters, Quai Malaquais. The arrest of these
monsters was chiefly due to the courage of Citizens
Benard and Guichard, adjutants, who, after calling on
them to surrender, fell on them with drawn swords,

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA LOI 283

and, in spite of their fierce resistance, disarmed them ;
the rest saved themselves by flight.

" This armed force, which unfortunately arrived
too late, was composed of three detachments — one of
veterans, one of National Guards, and the third of
paid troops, who were compelled to ^x their bayonets
to their guns.

" An insj)ector of police could not at the moment
be found, but Citizen Decourchant, Justice of the
Peace for the Butte-des-Moulins District, came as
soon as he was summoned. He found the victims
stretched on the floor in different parts of the house,
and four of the assassins in the hands of the armed
force.

'*The head of the police, being immediately advised,
despatched an armed force which remained in the
vicinity of the house all night. General Bonaparte
sent to ask for exact details at nine in the morning,
and it is affirmed that he was as indignant as he was
distressed at the calamity.

'' We will not permit ourselves any reflections on
this event, but we are pleased to hope that the
Government will seize this occasion to make an
example, which may guarantee the j^eoj^^le that their
property will be protected for the future, by punish-
ing these wicked men, who are undoubtedly guided
by motives worthy of punishment.

''We can assure our readers of the truth of these
details, as they were furnished by eyewitnesses, and
by Citizen Garchi himself."

284 ROSE BERTIN

The affair caused considerable excitement, and
Berard (of the Rhone) moved the Council of the
Five Hundred to send a message to the Directoire on
the subject.

It was finally discovered that all the trouble was
caused by political quarrels, of which the Garchi
establishment was frequently the scene. Former
emigres and Royalists enjoyed meeting there. Garchi's
caf(^ was one of the most fashionable rendezvous.
" It is the school of good breeding and pretty
manners," says the Coiirrier Frangaisy of 4 Fructidor,
year III. (August 21, 1795). " You should see how
one flits and flutters about, it's the rage, and thanks to
the fashion the industrious ice-cream merchant is
making a fortune.'* And the same paper says a few
days later : " He who has not taken an ice at Garchi's
is an imbecile."

One can well imagine that such a tenant was a
godsend to Mile. Bertin.

In 1796 the Garchi establishment had already
been the scene of a slight skirmish, which, though
it had no immediate result, is worth relating. It
was reported as follows in the Ami des Lois of
17 Brumaire, year Y. (November 7, 1796) : "A patriot
in full dress recently entered Garchi's. He asked for
news of the army ; a charming young man replied :
' It is good ; we have beaten the republicans on the
Rhine.' The patriot was surprised. ' Have I the
pleasure of speaking to an Austrian ?' he inquired.
This unexpected answer roused the frequenters of

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA LOI 285

the caf^ to anger. * This is surely a traitor/ they all
cried ; ' drive him out.' "

This no doubt was the oriu'in of the skirmish of
January 15, 1798. The antagonism between patriots
and their opponents was no doubt the cause of it.
The patriots wished to revenge themselves on the
Royalist frequenters of the cafe for the attitude
of the latter towards them ; and if some silver was
stolen, and if Citizen Quentin was robbed of a silver
watch and ten gold pieces, it was because several
good-for-nothings had slipped in among the men hired
to give the habitual customers of the cafe a lesson.

The police inquiry cleared up the mystery, and on
the morrow the Ami des Lois published the following
report :

" We are assured that the motives of the scene
which took place in the Garchi caf^, of which we
spoke yesterday, was not theft, as we announced
erroneously. . . . To-day another version of the
affair, which appears to us plausible, presents the in-
cident as the outcome of a political quarrel, between
republicans and emigres or their partisans ; and it is
said that M. de Rochechouart, of whose emigration
there is no doubt, took part in it, that he struck the
first blow, and finally succumbed under the fire of
those whom he had attached. Augereau's Aide-de-
Camp, who found himself in this bad company, is a man
named Fournier, known for his fatal skill in duels.
His well-tried patriotism would lead us to judge
favourably of his companions, if his recklessness did

286 ROSE BERXm

not destroy the conclusions one might draw from his
political opinions. We are assured that Rochechouart
has died of his wounds."

Director Rewbel's two sons had left a quarter of an
hour before the trouble.

As to Garchi, he did not remain in Mile. Bertln's
house much longer, but soon transferred his shop
and his fame to the corner of the Boulevard
Montmartre and of the Rue de Richelieu, where he
founded Frascati, an establishment which immediately
became famous, and was more than ever the favoured
rendezvous of all Royalists, who were ready to con-
spire against the Republic.

The Almanack du Commerce de Paris, published
for the first time in 1797, under the direction of
J. de Latyma, the precursor of the Bottin, gives in
the list of merchants :

'' Bertin, dressmaker, Rue de la Roi, 1,243, Butte-
des-Moulins."

Butte- des- Moulin s was one of the four districts
which formed the second ward. The Almanack du
Commerce published the following year does not give
Mile. Bertin's address.

She had not, however, retired, the proof of which
is that in 1799 she sold a lace shawl, value 960
livres, to the Empress of Austria ; she also received
various important orders from Spain, which were
executed during the years 1799 to 1804. These
orders were received in the name of Gamain, the
Duchesse d'Ossuna's steward ; and in the names of

E M V R ESS M A R I A - T H E H ES A

'I'll face p.igk' 2'Sti

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA LOI 287

the Duchess of Infantado ; of the Marchioness of
Campo TAngel, Spanish Ambassadress of Portugal ;
and of the Duchess of Berwick.

It would seem as though her former success might
return, but unfortunately, if her name still carried
weight in foreign lands, it was no longer the same in
France, and Marie - Antoinette's great dressmaker
witnessed the rise of a new star, a competitor whose
ever- increasing fame was to make his name rival hers.
We speak of Leroi, who was to become the official
costumier of the ostentatious Court of Napoleon ; of
the Leroi who was to drape the Empress Josephine's
shoulders with brocade, in place of the shawls which
Rose Bertin sold to Mme. de Beauharnais.

Nevertheless she had not lost her reputation across
the frontiers, and even supplied various merchants
who offered her creations for sale. Among these
was a certain Bernard, who had a shop in Madrid,
and who — which was of no little interest to Rose — had
entrance to the Spanish Court, having obtained for
his daughter a post as a darner of lace at the palace.

On January 7, 1802, he announced that the Court
was to go to meet the bride of the Prince of Asturias,
that there would be holidays, and that he hoped to do
some business.

Bernard was not merely on business terms with the
establishment, and in his letters addressed to the
*' Rue de la Loi, formerly Richelieu, house of
Beauvillier, restaurant proprietor," he never forgot
to add a few amiable words for the employees :

288 ROSE BERTIN

*' Please convey many kind messages to Mile. Pauline,
including the young ladies and Mme. Bauch^." The
number of persons employed by Rose was small
indeed in comparison to those she employed during
the reign of Louis XYI.

In the hope of increasing her business, she had
opened a department for the sale of steel combs, fans,
gold boxes, and jewellery.

Now and again Rose recovered some of the old
debts, the recovery of which had been momentarily
imperilled by the Revolution. In 1801 the Mar-
chioness d'Harcourt and her daughter paid their
account, long overdue. On her part, the dressmaker
had difficulty in meeting her liabilities. She was
more than a year in paying for certain articles of
furniture which she bought from a man named Vogin,
of Saint-Germain-en- Lay e — a Chinese bed, a mahogany
table, a lacquer screen, and a poor sort of painting
representing *' the donkey and the dairymaid," the
whole amounting to 471 francs, of which she had
paid 48 francs. But with respect to Vogin, who
owed her more than 5,000 francs, she was in a
similar position as with Baron Duplouy. The delay
was probably intentional.

It is extraordinary that she should have allowed
credit to Vogin, and proves how imprudent she
sometimes was in business matters. Vogin, after
being chef at M. de Livry's, and then at the Mar^chal
de Noailles's, had opened some baths at Pecq, where
he had come to grief. Thanks to Rose Bertin, who

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA ROI 289

did not harass him when he was the most pressed,
and almost on the verge of being arrested, he was
able to recover his balance, and in 1805 opened an
establishment in the Rue du Ponceau, No. 42, called
the *'Bon Gras-Double." Mile. Bertin then, and
then only, endeavoured to recover her money, and,
as Yogin disputed part of her claim, they mutually
agreed to elect Charles de Polignac as arbitrator, but
the matter was not settled at the dressmaker's death.

The Almanack du Commerce for the year X.,
published in 1801, gives Mme. Bertin, Rue de la
Loi, 1,243, Butte-des-Moulins, among the non-
commercial citizens. This is reproduced in the
Almanack of the year XL ; she does not appear at all
in the year XIL, but we find the name Bertin,
linen-draper, at the same address. This does not
mean that Rose had closed her shoj) in 1801 ; it
is merely an omission, but that such an omission was
possible shows that the reputation of the establish-
ment had greatly dwindled.

As to the entry in the Alm.anack of the year XIL,
it refers to Rose's nephew, Louis-Nicolas Bertin,
who had been established there since 1803, in the
very shop which his aunt had occupied ; he was
in reality her employe, and Rose personally super-
intended a great deal of the business, as the papers
of her heirs prove. Not linen only, but all kinds of
fancy articles were sold. On January 1 (11 Nivose,
at Bertin, linen-drapers, year XL) Princesse de
Gargorowsky bought " a little chest in glass and

290 ROSE BERTIN

imitation Chinese lacquer with gold figures," value
600 livres ; on February 11 the beautiful Duchess of
Devonshire, who was called the '' Queen of London,"
and who had been particularly friendly to the French
(fmigr^s, bought " a basket in the shape of a straw
vase, with landscapes, the whole made of straw,"
Avorth 144 livres, and a model of the Bastille in gilded
metal, worth 240 livres. The shop had become a
small bazaar ; in the time of Marie- Antoinette it
would have been known as a '' Little Dunkerque."

Everything seemed to stand in Rose's light. It
was not enough that she should suffer from the bad
debtors of the ancie7i reghne and the inevitable
consequences of the Revolution ; even the wars of
the Empire were prejudicial to her, preventing in
the first place her trade with the Courts and nobility
of the countries at war with France, such as Spain,
Austria, etc., who had always been faithful to her,
and also preventing her from recovering moneys due
to her in these countries. Thus on May 24, 1804,
a M. de Lancry, a client in Vienna who owed her
7,350 livres, wrote: '^ We are sending by this post
to the Abbe Daniel, our mutual friend, our accounts
and a draft, begging him to pay you, not only the
capital, but interest at 10 per cent, per ann., which
we beg you to accept." Rose never saw the money.
The letter was dated from St. Petersburg ; war was
raging in Hanover — in fact, there was latent, if not
open, war throughout Germany. The money never
reached its destination.

MASSACRE IN THE RUE DE LA ROI 291

In spite of all her efforts, therefore, her position
did not improve, and she appealed constantly, with
cries of famine, not to the ant, her neighbour, but
to the out-of-work nobles, who were unable to make
headway themselves against the waves which had
submerged them. Some of the more enterprising,
however, spent their time in plotting against the
Empire, to no purpose. Their agitation, directed
from England by the Comte d'Artois, could not be
anything but unpopular at the time of the field of
Boulogne, and could only bring on them the suspicion,
rightfully or wrongfully, of being financed with
English money. It was thus that the Polignacs
were imprisoned after the conspiracy of Pichegru.

Rose Bertin, having written to the Comtesse de
Gouy O'Mahony, received a letter from her from
Fontainebleau, where the Comte was in exile, dated
June 21, 1805, saying :

" I cannot express to you, madomoiselle, the grief
your letter has caused me ; I have just received it, it
having been forwarded to me from Paris. I lose no
time in answering, to tell you how my heart bleeds to
be unable to come to your assistance in your cruel
position, but, alas ! my own is no happier."*

In the Almanac] i du Commerce for 1806 we find
for the first time the address of Bertin, linen-draper
and costumier. Rue de la Loi, 2^. The shop, how-
ever, had not moved ; the numbers only had been
changed. In 1787 the order followed in numbering
the houses was different to that followed in 1805 and
'^ Collection J. Doucet, Rose Bertin, Dossier 1,780.

292 ROSE BERTIN

later. The first No. 1 was on the left side of the
Rue de la Loi, formerly Rue Richelieu, at the
corner of the Rue Saint-Honore ; the next house was
No. 2, and so on to the end of the street, when the
numbers continued on the opposite side, the last number
facing the first. No. 2Q therefore was formerly 1,243.

In 1807 the Almanack du Commerce still contains
Bertin, costumier, 26, Rue de la Loi; but among the
non-commercial residents it publishes Mile. Bertin,
Rue de Richelieu, 2Q. The street had been renamed
by its former name, and continued to be so called in
1808 and the following years ; Rose Bertin, old
Royalist as she was, rejoiced at seeing her street
resume the name it had borne under the ancien
regime ; and had she been one of those persons who
are consoled with words, it would have been an
innocent revenge for all the harm the Revolution had
done her, by depriving her one by one of the heads she
was wont to deck, with the assistance of Leonard,
with flowers and gauzes, feathers, lawn, j^earls,
and powder. There was no great danger under the
Empire, when one's name was Rose Bertin, in pro-
claiming oneself a Royalist, and the plots which she
and Mme. d'Houdetot planned under the great trees
of Epinay did not lead the conspirators to the trenches
of Yincennes.

Epinay was the retreat chosen by that remarkable
woman, Mme. d'Houdetot, remarkable for very
different reasons than those Avhich had broui^^ht fame
to Rose Bertin. There, after the death of her faithful

LAST YEARS OF ROSE BERTIN 293

companion, Saint-Lambert, she lived for ten years,
saddened and with a grief-stricken heart, yet always
playful, smiling, and amiable. Nevertheless, for
different reasons, life held nothino- for her but regret,
and, like Rose, a whirlwind of dead leaves swept
through the garden of her life.

In 1808 Rose Bertin, whose name was better
known than any other among foriegn Princes, sold
to the Queen of Spain a fan w^orth 120 francs, and a
dress of silver tissue and white silk worth 550 francs.
Marie-Louise, Queen of Spain, was at the Castle of
Compiegne with her husband, Charles IV., who had
abdicated. It was the refuge offered by the Emperor
to the King in accordance with the Treaty of Bayonne,
Article 5 of which stipulated that — " The imperial
palace of Compiegne, its parks and forests, should be
placed at the disposition of King Charles during his
lifetime." It was, all the same, little better than a
gilded prison, over which the imperial police could
easily keep vigilant watch.

" The Queen of Spain, Marie-Louise," writes M. J.
Vatout, " had brains and character. She was small
and lively, and had preserved all the fire of her
glance ; she loved dress, and it was apparent that she
spared no means of fighting against the ravages of
time." She was born in 1754, and w^as therefore
fifty-four years of age, and the order for a white silk
and silver tissue dress shows a certain coquetry, and
proves her wish to appear young.

Rose sometimes received orders of this kind which

294 ROSE BERTIN

flattered her self-love : if Princes remerabered her,
time could not have quite obscured her fame.

She had other consolations besides these — the
friendly intercourse she enjoyed with her nephews,
one of whom lived a few steps from her house at
Epinay, and the other superintended her business
while she was in the country. She had also old well-
tried friends such as Baron Duplouy, who was very
attentive to her. In a letter written in 1808, he
expresses his regret at not finding her at home in
Paris, and at being unable to go as far as Epinay,
when he passed through the capital. In another
letter of the same period he writes : " Mile. Yechard,
to whom please give a friendly message, having told me
that you are very fond of sassafras, I have had a little
barrel put up for you at Saint- Valery. I have sent
it to Mme. Bertin, your niece, in case you should
not be at your country-house when it arrives. Be
careful to put a little vinegar now and again into the
barrel, to keep it good."*

Duplouy might well send Rose Bertin a small
barrel of sassafras, as he was still in her debt ; but
on August 5, 1812, he proposed to pay off part of
the debt by instalments, and offered for the rest
State bonds to the amount of 150 francs.

Rose, however, never unduly pressed customers
and friends to whom she had rendered service, and who
owed her money. On the contrary, she sought when-
ever she could to help them as far as her means
* Collection J. Doucet, Rose Bertin, Dossier 240.

LAST YEARS OF ROSE BERTIN 295

allowed. After her death this tribute was paid her
unanimously. The Comtesse de la Tour, whose
maiden nanae was Polastron, wrote in 1820 : '' Mile.
Bertin before her death used sometimes to come to
visit me ; and knowing my circumstances, so far from
asking me for money, she volunteered to come to my
assistance, an offer which I refused, not knowing
when I should be able to repay her. Nevertheless I
shall be eternally grateful to her, and I rejoice to be
able to pay this homage to her memory.^'*

The last portrait we know of, of Mile. Bertin, was
painted towards the end of her life. We saw it in
the attics of the Mus^e Carnavalet, where it still is.

Rose, with her original, complex, and eccentric
character, posed for the artist, holding on her
knees the helmet of a cavalry officer. She was not
at the time of a romantic age, but the Bulletin des
Musses for 1892 furnishes us with the explanation.
It says, referring to this painting :

*'Rose Bertin, dressmaker to the Queen. A large
rather curious picture, belonging to the family. The
famous dressmaker, who used to hold counsel with
Marie-Antoinette upon chiffons and finery, was at the
time about sixty years of age ; she lived in retreat at
Epinay, where she played the part of Providence
towards the poor. Being still something of a
coquette, the strange fancy took her to be painted as
Venus decorating the helmet of Mars with feathers.

'' We have nothing to say of the white dress bedecked
* Collection J. Doucet, Rose Bertin, Dossier 401 .

296 ROSE BERXm

with gold and jewels, which leaves her arms and
ample bosom bare — it was the fashion of 1803. But
the helmet belongs to a fancy fireman. It is said
that it belonged to her nephew, a cavalry officer.
The red and green feather may serve to identify the
corps. In spite of the ravages of time, which have
left her faded, but no thinner, the ex-royal dress-
maker still strikingly resembles the charming portrait
painted by Janinet, during the days of her splendour,
a little coloured engraving which the folly of auctions
has raised to a price of 6 to 7,000 francs. The
painting, which is unsigned, is passable. It is a
precious document for popular history."

It was not the fashion of 1803, but of 1810 to
1813. The helmet belongs to a carabineer, and gives
us the approximate date of the portrait, since a decree
of December 24, 1809, reforming the uniform of the
carabineers, had laid down that they should wear a
helmet and cuirass, which they had not done until
then. Rose Bertin's great-nephew was an officer in
the carabineers, a fact of which she was very proud,
as this portrait amply proves.

Rose was nearing the end of her life. She very
rarely went to Paris, and even in winter lived at the
village of Epinay. In the course of 1813 the village
lost both the Countess d'Houdetot, who died on
January 28, having reached the advanced age of
eighty-three, and Marie-Antoinette's dressmaker, who
stood on the threshold only of old age.

Her death certificate, dated September 22, and

LAST YEARS OF ROSE BERTIN 297

preserved at the Hotel de Yille at Epinay, runs as

follows :

" In the year one thousand eight hundred and
thirteen, on September 22nd, at five o'clock in the
afternoon, at the Mairie^ before us, Jean-Louis-
Antoine Gilbert, Deputy-Mayor of the village of
Epinay- sur-Seine, Department of the Seine, borough
of Saint-Denis, performing in the absence of the
said Mayor the functions of a civil officer, there
appeared Louis-Nicolas Bertin, forty-five years of
age, costumier, residing in Paris, No. 26, Eue de
Richelieu, nephew, and Claude-Charlemagne Bertin,
forty-one years of age, landowner, residing at Epinay,
also nephew, who declared that their aunt, Mile.
Marie-Jeanne Bertin, sixty-six years of age, land-
owner, residing in this parish, born at Abbeville,
department of the Somme, on July 2nd, one thousand
seven hundred and forty- seven, daughter of Nicolas
Bertin and of Marie- Marguerite M6quignon, died
at her residence this morning at nine o'clock ; and
the said witnesses signed with me these presents,
after it had been read to them.

"(Signed) L. Bertin. C. C. Bertin.

Gilbert."

Two days later the bells tolled at the Church of
Saint- M^dard of Epinay. The crowd that followed
Rose's coffin was chiefly composed of the villagers
amidst whom the last years of her life had been
spent, and amongst whom, in spite of her abruptness

298 ROSE BERTm

and brusque temper, her open and generous nature
had won her more friends than enemies.

Although during the Revolution she had acquired
Church property, having bought lands belonging to
the Mathurins d'Emile (Montmorency), she was
admitted to the privilege of Christian burial, as
proved by the certificate furnished us by the actual
Cur6 of Epinay, which runs as follows :

"In the year 1813, September 24, was buried by
me, the undersigned, Marie -Jeanne Bertin, spinster,
who died in this parish at the age of sixty-six, in
presence of Louis-Mcolas Bertin, her nephew, residing
in Paris, and Claude- Charlemagne Bertin, also a
nephew, residing in this parish, who signed :

" Bertin. Bertin. Paurez, Cure.

" True copy, Epinay, October 30, 1908. — L.
MiGNOT, Cur^y

Like all who had bought lands confiscated from
the religious orders, Rose benefited by the article
of the Concordat of 1801, by which the Catholic
Church renounced all claim to the property of which
she had been deprived, ratified the sale thereof,
and ipso facto raised all excommunications incurred
on that head.

Mile. Bertin 's death momentarily revived public
interest in her. Several papers published obituary
notices.

The following is an extract from the Journal de
V Empire of October 5, 1813 :

LAST YEARS OF EOSE BERTIN 299

" Among the losses which have recently befallen
the arts, we must count that of Mile. Bertin, justly
famous for the supremacy to which she raised French
fashions, and for her services to commerce. She
died on September 22 ult. at her house in Epinay.
The good taste and talents of this ingenious dress-
maker have been celebrated in verse by our poet
Delisle. Her whole life was an example of benevo-
lence and filial piety. Her private life affords
numberless incidents which might profitably be
recorded in the annals of virtue. Nor will they be
lost, as a man of letters who can bear witness to them
has taken upon himself the duty of recording them."
There is every reason to suppose that this man
of letters was no other than Penchet, who during
the course of a public life somewhat agitated several
times retired into private life, taking up his residence
at a little estate, to which he was particularly
attached, situated near Ecouen. The latter place
is not so far distant from Epinay as to prevent
his occasionally calling there. Whatever duties
he may have performed under the Revolution
and the Empire as Administrator of the District
of Gonesse, or archivist to the Police Depart-
ment, Penchet at heart was to a certain extent
faithful to the old monarchy. Upon this ground
he must have been on marvellously good terms with
the Queen's dressmaker.

The Journal cles Arts, des Sciences, et de la Littera-
ture of October 10, 1813, also mentions Mile. Bertin's

300 ROSE BERTIN

death in the following terms : ** The same paper
[Journal de V Empire] also announces the death of
a former dressmaker named Mile. Bertin, and assures
us that a man of letters is already preparing her
funeral oration. This obituary notice rightfully
belonged to the Journal des Dames.'"

The editor does not seem to have grasped the
identity of Mile. Bertin. " A former dressmaker !"
Fortunately, she was not there to be hurt by it.

But, in contradiction of the proverb that no one is
a prophet in his own country, the Journal d'Ahbe-
7)iUe of October 9, 1813, published a flattering
obituary notice. '' This notice in the Journal
d' Abbeville is the more astonishing because it is the
only one of the kind which appeared during the
year 1813 in that paper, which was almost entirely
devoted to legal advertisements."*

" Mile. Bertin," says the notice, '' was a native of
Abbeville, born by chance in an obscure class. Are
titles and noble birth necessary when one borrows
nothing from one's ancestors, and, above all, when one
has been made famous in verse by a disciple of Virgil ?
It is with feeling and with pleasure that we publish
this funeral panegyric, which will be confirmed in
Mile. Bertin' s own country as elsewhere, and more
particularly in this town, by the compatriots whom
she has served or honoured both in public and private
in circumstances which should never be forgotten."

* Note de M. Delignieres lue a la Seance de la Societe
d^Emulation dAbbeville, 3 Mai, 1906.

LAST YEARS OF ROSE BERTIN 301

Baron Duplouy, whose friendship for Mile. Bertin
may have inspired the lines, could applaud these
words of the editor of the Journal d' Abbeville.

But is it not curious what importance the publicists
of the first Empire attach to the poetry of Abbe
Delille, '' the disciple of Virgil " !

It would seem that all Rose Bertin's fame came
from the fact that she had inspired the poet Delille
to write some verses. And yet, while her reign
lasted, she had caused the greatest personages of
France to bow to the frivolous yoke of fashion, a
fashion of which she was the ingenious and lavish
inspirer. In Abbeville she had acquired and retained
numerous and faithful clients ; and if she was cele-
brated, her reputation was due to the imagination she
showed in the exercise of her profession, and not to
the mediocre verses of the author of " Imagination."

Finally, the editor of the Almanach des Modes
for 1814 added these few words to the article devoted
to the dressmakers of the day : " We cannot con-
clude this article without speaking of Mile. Bertin,
formerly dressmaker to the Queen and Court, who
retired a number of years ago, and who died about
three months since at her country-house, situated a
few miles from Paris. After being for many years
the most celebrated dressmaker in Paris, she became
one of the most generous of women. Her life was
blessed by deeds of devotion, delicacy, and benevo-
lence, which should be known, and the simple recital
of which would tend more to her praise than anything
we can say."

CHAPTER VIII

THE HEIRS OF ROSE — SAINTE-BEUVE's OPINION ON THE

'' MEMOIRS "

Rose Bertin left two nephews — Claude-Charlemagne
and Nicolas ; the family of the one was composed
entirely of daughters, the family of the other entirely
of sons. She left besides two nieces, who also had
children.

Her heirs found that a number of debts were still
owing her, and set about their recovery. Some of
these debts were not liquidated until thirty years
later. It was not until 1842 that the account of
Comte and Comtesse de Gouy O'Mahony was paid ;
and that of Comtesse de la Tour, which amounted
to 1,329 livres, was not paid until 1843. The latter
bill had been owing since 1789, and the Comtesse
having died on July 9, 1842, her heirs came to an
agreement with Rose Bertin's heirs, by which the
latter accepted 675 francs in payment of the debt.

Charlemagne Bertin, assisted by the advice of the
lawyer Petit d'Auterive, took upon himself most of
the business connected with the estate. Grangeret

was the official lawyer of the family. In the corre-

302

THE HEIRS OF ROSE 303

spondence relating to the estate, one finds on all sides
flattering tributes to the great dressmaker's memory.
In 1814 Charlemagne Bertin wrote to M. Lefebvre,
Justice of the Peace for Abbeville, with respect to
Baron Diiplouy : "I have no need to repeat here the
services Mile. Bertin rendered this family, and the
noble devotion with which she seized every oppor-
tunity of assisting them " — a reference to the civility,
not to use a stronger word, which Rose had shown
them when they were in exile in England, and living
in poverty at Canterbury.

The following letter is full of praise of Rose and
her family :

" The Justice of Peace of the Tenth Ward of Paris
to the Count de Lieautaud,

" Paris,
"July 26, 1816.

" Sir, — Mile. Bertin and her family, of whom you ask
me to give you some information, arouse my interest.

" Mile. Bertin was dressmaker to the Queen and all
the Royal Family ; she earned their esteem, and even
their friendship, by her wit, and her life in the world.
At the moment of the Revolution there was owing to
her in Paris, from the Court and from the Powers, a
sum amounting to over 1,500,000 francs. She owned
several fine houses in Paris and in the country.
There were 300,000 francs owing her in Russia ; and
I have fi^equently seen her dining with Prince Konrakin,
Russian Ambassador, and the Princesses of that

304 ROSE BERTIN

nation, who liked her, and used to dine with her at
her country-house, situated near mine.

" Mile. Bertin was dowered with a rare mind and
talents out of the common ; she loved and idolized
the Royal Family and all the Court, and her shop
was daily open to them.

" She was the benefactress of her family, composed
of two nephews and two nieces, who inherited, as she
died intestate in 1814 (?).

" The first of these nieces died, leaving, by her
marriage with a merchant, a daughter, who married
M. Petit d'Auterive, a lawyer ; and a son, who is a
Captain and Chevalier of the Ldgion d'Honneur : they
form the first party.

" The second niece married M. Chasseriaux, land-
owner, whose castle is close to Sezanne-en-Brie. She
died leaving a son, a minor, Lieutenant and Chevalier
d'Honneur, like his cousin ; he is nineteen years of
age, and is the second party.

" The first of the nephews is married, and is a
landowner who resides at Epinay. He has two sons ;
the eldest, eighteen or nineteen years of age, has
presented himself for the Guards : he is gentle, well
brought up, and of exemplary conduct ; he has a
brother who also promises well — third party.

" The second nephew is also a landowner, married,
and has four daughters — fourth party.

*' This family has always conducted itself well.

'^ The father of the aspirant of the Guards is infirm,
and can only drive about ; he is possessed of native

THE HEIRS OF ROSE 305

intellect, and is above all a most respectable man.
His income allows him to keep his son in the service.

" Finally, Mile. Bertin being in exile rendered the
greatest service to the emigres with her money, her
wit, her amiability, and the reputation she had
acquired abroad, especially in England, where she
invested money.

" Louis XVIII. and the Royal Family, when they
arrived in 1814, asked news of her, and, hearing that
she had been dead for six months, publicly expressed
their regret.

'' I have great pleasure, Count, in supplying these
details concerning a woman, celebrated in her own
way, who was my friend till death, and whom I
honoured for her mind, her talents, and above all for
a loyalty worthy of her great and benevolent soul.

" I have the honour to remain, with respectful
affection, your humble and very devoted servant,

" GODARD.
" Rue de FUniversite,

"No. 11, Hotel de Luynes.^^

According to the story told by contemporaries of
Mile. Bertin, her heirs should not have been able to
make any claim against the State, since, out of
devotion to Marie- Antoinette, Rose had burnt all her
account-books and destroyed all trace of the sums
owing to her, so that their magnitude might not
constitute another charge against the Queen.

The fact is that the accounts had been produced,

306 ROSE BERTIN

and were in the hands of Citizen Henry ; there was
therefore nothing to hide, and the heirs employed
every possible means to recover the money owing
from the Queen's estate, for which purpose they
addressed themselves to the Duchess of Angouleme.

Their lawyer, Grangeret, transmitted to William,
head of the King's Household, the following letter
which Charlemagne Bertin had received on the subject :

" The last letter received from Her Highness the
Dauphine is dated December 6, 1824, and is as follows:

" The Secretary and General Treasurer of Her
Highness the Dauphine, to M. Bertin.

" Sir, — Her Royal Highness the Dauphine has
read the petition you addressed to her, dated the
25th ultimo. I have the honour to inform you that,
in compliance with her orders, I have forwarded it to
the Minister of the King's Household. You must
therefore, Sir, address yourself to His Excellency to
learn the result of your request.

" (Signed) Th. Charlet,"

The Bertin heirs addressed a petition, dated
September 11, 1828, to the Minister, and another on
October 1, 1829, to Baron de la Bouillerie, Chief
Steward of the King's Household.

They declared in particular that among the sums
owing by the Royal Family was a bill for 3,016 livres,
for articles supplied to the Comte d'Artois, afterwards
King of France.

THE HEIRS OF ROSE 307

The events of 1830 interrupted Grangeret's efforts.
The Minister of the King's Household had not, it is
true, shown any anxiety to satisfy the claims of Mile.
Bertin's heirs. The Government of the Restoration
was overwhelmed with claims from former emigres^
whose property had been sold by the revolutionists,
too pressing to attach much importance to debts
contracted with a person who had died leaving no
children. And although Grangeret laid stress upon
their unfortunate position, it was well known that
the Bertin heirs were mostly in very comfortable, if
not brilliant, circumstances.

Grangeret's efforts met with more success abroad ;
and in writing in 1818 to the Count de San Martin,
Master of the Household of the ex- King of Spain,
Charles IV., claiming a sum of 4,500 francs owing by
the Queen of Spain since 1808, when she was residing
at Compiegne, he was able to state that the Empress
of Russia had recently paid 20,000 francs which had
been owing some thirty -five years. The Empress did
not take advantage of the Russian law, which cancelled
debts which had been owing more than ten years. She
honestly acknowledged the debt and paid it, paying
at the same time for a lace shawl, furnished to her by
Rose Bertin in 1799, value 960 livrcs.

This information, taken from Grangeret's own
papers, contradicts the statement he made in writing
to the Marquis de Boisgehn, that " Mile. Bertin
was compelled to quit France in 1792, and did
not return until 1813 " ; and to Adjutant- Major

308 ROSE BERTIN

de Caradeus, that she had been twenty-five years
abroad.

It is certain that there was some confusion in the
papers, and we think that the statement made by
Comtesse de Laage must be accepted. The Comtesse,
formerly Lady - in - Waiting to the Princesse de
Lamballe, writes on July 9, 1820 : ''I paid all my
creditors before emigrating, and notably Mile. Bertin."
She had received a letter from Grangeret claiming
money owing for articles supplied between August 10,
1787, and July 25, 1791, and adds: '' I thought
the claim so extraordinary that I delayed answering,
especially as one heard it publicly stated on all sides
that the heirs of Mile. Bertin brought forward un-
founded claims. After her return to France, I
frequently saw Mile. Bertin, who always thanked me
for having paid her.^'

It is possible that, in the days of feverish anxiety
and trouble preceding her departure for England,
Rose received payment of certain debts without
entering in her books the money received. Martin-
court relied on these books, and naturally made a full
copy of all the debts entered therein, to present to the
office for the liquidation of the emigres' property, and
Grangeret relied on Martincourt's statement in bring-
ing forward his claims in later years.

It was not until some years after her death that
Mile. Bertin's memoirs appeared. The edition of
1824 was announced on October 30 of the same year
in the Journal de V Iraprimerie et de la Lihrairie

SAINTE-BEUVE ON THE ^'MEMOIKS" 309

under the title o£ " M6moires de Mile. Bertin sur
la Reine Marie- Antoinette," with notes and explana-
tions. The work was published by Bossange Brothers,
and the paper mentioned above had already declared
it to be a forgery. The chief aim of the book
seems to be an attempt to clear Marie-Antoinette
from the charges brought against her, especially in
the affair of the necklace. In any case, it seems
evident that all the anecdotes concerning the Queen's
dressmaker had been collected by the author from
contemporary gazettes and memoirs, and perhaps
even from Mile. Bertin's own lips. Their authenticity
alone might have caused the statements put forward
by the author in defence of his case to pass without
question. However, the anonymous writer who had
adopted Rose's name as a d^guise was compelled to
unmask himself; scarcely had the memoirs been
launched upon the public when Mile. Bertin's family
rejected them in a letter published by a literary paper
called the Semaine. Several papers, notably the
Gazette de France of November 29, 1824, in an
article signed by Colnet, had given a criticism of the
book, which they accepted as authentic, and had
given it a famous advertisement. Sainte-Beuve*s
criticism appeared in the Globe of November 11, and
has been reprinted by Jules Troubat in his work
'* Premiers Lundis," vol. i. (1874) ; it was not
kindly, and was scarcely calculated to increase the
sale of it, as the reader may judge from the following :
" That men who live during a revolution, and who

310 ROSE BERTIN

are either enlightened spectators or chief actors,
should bequeath to posterity a faithful deposit of
their souvenirs is a duty we expect of them ; that
those who play a secondary part, who have seen
merely a small corner of the vast picture, and who
have witnessed a few scenes only, should bring their
small tribute of revelations — they will still be received
benevolently ; and, above all, if the writer depicts
the interior of a Court during a time when public
affairs were nothing but private affairs, if he shows
us without disguise august personages in that cruel
transition from extreme prosperity to extreme misery,
our eager curiosity will pardon, will magnify, the
smallest details ; our author may with impunity
speak to us of himself, if only he will speak of
others ; we will throw to Mme. Campan all the
nothings of the antechamber and the boudoir, for
one happy phrase. But that Mile. Rose Bertin,
dressmaker to the Queen, sign of the Trait Galant,
should come towards us with measured step, papers
and ribbons in hand, addressing her memoirs to the
coming centuries, is too much for the reader's gravity,
and for my part I am tempted to demand in the first
place the montant du mimoire.

" The book is poor in facts in spite of her assiduity
in matters of dress. The writer seems to know but
little of Court matters ; she gives us now and again
sayings that have fallen from her mistress's lips ; she
justifies her for nicknaming the Duchesse de Noailles
^ Madame de I'Etiquette/ and for calling mMailles

SAINTE-BEUVE ON THE ^' MEMOIRS'^ 311

women who have attained their fifth lustre. Once
only Mile. Rose informs us that the sort of mis-
understanding which existed between the King and
Queen was political; Mme. Adelaide held by M. de
Maurepas, the Queen by M. de Choiseul, inde irce ;
we feel that these days are far distant. The affair
of the necklace takes up the principal part of the
book ; the author was aware of certain details which
may lend weight to her evidence, and now and again
her tone is solemn, and it is here we find the appeal
to coming centuries. Nevertheless we may praise
her attachment to the unfortimate, and her efforts
to avenge the memory of a calumniated Queen. . . .

'' Mile. Bertin is not always happy in her excuses.
For example, the Count de Charolais was wont to
amuse himself, as we know, by firing on the workmen
mending the tileSj to make them fall off the roof ;
this was, according to her, merely the effect of
violently heated blood, and the moment past, no
one's honour was more unimpeachable. She is more
severe as respects the Duke de Chartres, afterwards
the monster Egalit^ ; she also refused him her favours,
though this piece of confidential news has no bearing
on the history of the eighteenth century. There is
also little importance, though more grace, in her
account of the gipsy. This woman had predicted
to her, when a child at Amiens, that she would
become a great lady, and her train would be carried
at Court. . . .

*' On another occasion when she was in the Queen's

312 ROSE BERTIN

apartments, during less happy days, the Princess said'
to her : ' I dreamt of you last night, my dear Rose ;
you came to me with your hands full of rihbons, and
I chose some, but as I took hold of them they turned
black.'

" The editor realized that there was not enough
material for a volume, and so he added notes to it
respecting the Count de Charolais, the Duke d'Orleans,
Messieurs Choiseul and Maurepas, which have no con-
nection whatever with the text ; these persons are
scarcely mentioned in the book, and all their public
and private lives are retailed in notes. . . . Occasion
has been found of inserting an account, written by
M. Garat, of the alleged Orleans conspiracy, though it
has no connection with Mile. Rose's book."

Evidently it was a matter that had been arranged
between the publishers and M. Penchet, but it was
unsuccessful.

Sainte-Beuve's opinion, however, is open to
criticism. He attaches little importance to Mile.
Bertin ; but it is probable that he forgets that small
events have great results, that the Revolution was
prepared as much by libels, pamphlets, and unfounded
tales, spread among the people, as by any innate
desire in the latter for reform. The Court, and the
Queen especially, were the subject of violent and
incessant attacks regarding their morals, their pleasures,
and their extravagance. And the people, who had
suffered without rebelling, though not without murmur-
ing, the immorality of the Parc-aux-Cerfs, and the

SAINTE-BEUVE ON THE ''MEMOIRS" 313

shame of the preceding reign, were unconsciously
preparing to strike their reigning masters, reproaching
them for faults which were peccadillos compared to
the monstrosities they had suffered, to their shame,
for so long.

But these apocryphal memoirs, against which
Mile. Bertin's heirs protested, are more or less a
reproduction of a work entitled " Conversations
recueillies a Londres pour servir k THistoire d'une
Grande Renie par M.X.," which had been published in
Paris during Mile. Bertin's lifetime, in 1807, and to
which she offered no objection.

The reason is that the author of the "Conversa-
tions " was a friend, and yet he makes some slight
errors, such as calling Beaulard Bollard, and Mme.
Pagelle of the Trait Gallant Forgel, and giving the
date of Mile. Bertin's birth as the year 1744, whereas
she was born in 1747. But the following extract from
the introduction shows that he held Mile. Bertin in
high esteem.

" I had conceived the idea," he writes, " some years
ago of writing the history of the emigration . . .
circumstances having changed I abandoned the
project . . . but among my numerous notes upon
the subject ... I preserved those I had made from
memory of the conversations between Charles and
Mile. Rose. . . . Nothing could induce me to destroy
these proofs, which supply an answer to all that
has been said with respect to the necklace. Every-
one knows Mile. Rose and her devotion to the

314 ROSE BERTIN

Queen, whose milliner she had been ever since Marie-
Antoinette's arrival in France ; but few know to what
extent Mile. Rose enjoyed the Queen's confidence. . . .
It is rare that Sovereigns, especially those who have
lost their crowns, possess true friends ; and sensitive
souls must rejoice at seeing that that unfortunate
family had a real friend, even though it be Mile. Rose,
the frivolity of whose trade might have been an
excuse for unstable feelings. But our good Rose
had been dowered by Nature with a true heart and
a level head, such as a business woman requires ;
her conduct, which the conversations will describe
better than any words of mine, always bore the stamp
of that pride which is the outcome of self-respect.
Virtuous by inclination, she knew no other desire
than to please her mistress, and we shall see what
a beautiful tribute the Queen paid her during her last
days of power at the Tuileries. It was not only the
Queen who loved Rose; the Duchess d'Orleans, whose
name is linked with all that is good and honourable,
also gave her proofs of confidence and interest, as
did, too, the Princesses de Lamballe and de Bourbon ;
all the Court ladies spoke in praise of Rose's conduct.
In leaving France she ceded to the Queen's will, who
was convinced that if she remained she would fall
a victim to the fury of the populace, who had been
persuaded that the Queen's hats and bonnets only
had caused the deficit in the finances, and that con-
sequently the best remedy for the disorder was to cut
the throat of the person who, by her skill and taste,

SAINTE-BEUVE ON THE " MEMOIRS " 315

had excited or inspired in the Queen frivolous ideas.
Immediately upon Rose's arrival in London, she was
welcomed by all the ladies of the Court, who wished
to know whether the Queen remembered them, and
whether there was any chance of a speedy return
to Versailles."

The writer who speaks so feelingly of the modiste's
good qualities could scarcely be a stranger to her.
He praises her, and excuses her for the indirect part
she played in Marie- Antoinette's extravagance. This
is not the conduct of a person who is indifferent, and
if, while writing a book to defend the Queen with
regard to the affair of the necklace, he retails various
incidents of Mile. Bertin's life, to which though living
she made no objection, it must be that he had heard
them from public rumour or from Bose herself, and
that they made a fitting frame to his principal sub-
ject, and lent an air of sincerity and greater force
to his arguments. But when he thought fit to
republish his work, after some alterations, and auda-
ciously gave it the title of " M^moires de Mile.
Bertin," when she was no longer there to forbid or
to permit it, then her nephews, through the medium
of M. Petit d'Auterive, entered their protest. The
latter says, in the letter that was published in the
Semaine, that not only Mile. Bertin had not left her
memoirs, but that she had destroyed her account-
books during the Terror, for the sake of prudence,
so that her heirs had not been able after the Restora-
tion to bring any claim against the State. We know

316 ROSE BERTIN

how much importance must be attached to this
statement.

After this protest the publishers wrote a letter,
which was inserted in the Journal de riniprimerie et
de la Librairie of January 25, 1825, as follows :
^' Messrs. Bossange Brothers, who published at the end
of last year a volume in octavo entitled ' M^moires
de Mile. Bertin,' having learnt that the work is
apocryphal, have sent us the following letter :

" ' Paris,
" ' January 2, 1825.

" ' Sir, — We see by the rightful protest of the heirs
of Mile. Bertin, former dressmaker to the Queen,
that we have been deceived by a person whom it
would be ungenerous to name, since he admits his
fault, respecting the authenticity of the book we
published under the title of " M(^moires de Bertin
sur la Reine Marie-Antoinette, avec des notes et
^claircissements." We owe it to truth, and to our-
selves, to declare instantly that the book was
published without the knowledge of any of her heirs,
and to state that we have stopped the sale of the
*^M^moires," and called in all the copies — in fact,
nearly the whole edition. . . .

"'Bossange Brothers.'"

This announcement in the Journal de VImprimerie
et de la Lihrame did not arouse the same interest as
the publication of the memoirs, and it escaped the
notice of several writers who dealt with the subject.

SAINTE-BEUVE ON THE " MEMOIRS " 317

M. Ch. Louandre wrote in his '* Biographie
d' Abbeville et de ses Environs," which appeared in
1829 : " One would not have imagined that Mile.
Bertin would have turned her attention to the serious
events of history, but this is what she has done in
writing the 'M6moires sur la Reine Marie -Antoinette,'
published by Bossange Brothers in the ' Collection
Contemporaine/ with notes and explanations, (Paris,
1824, one volume, in octavo).

'* Mile. Bertin begins by saying that she will speak
very little about herself, and only say just what is
necessary to make her subject clear. She then gives
details of her parentage which lead one to suppose
that she is anxious to hide her origin, or that the
memoirs are not written by herself, and yet they
appear to be authentic."

Nevertheless M. Louandre shows that his suspicions
are aroused, because, as he points out, Rose Bertin in
her memoirs speaks of herself as the daughter of
small tradespeople, whereas we know that her father
was a member of the mounted police, and her mother
a nurse.

Ernest Prarond, though he is not aware of the
existence of Messrs. Bossange's letter, knows, however,
that the authenticity of the memoirs was questioned.

In "Les Hommes Utiles de I'Arrodissement d' Abbe-
ville," 1858, he says : "Mile. Rose-Marie- Jeanne did
better than merely make the Queen's hats : she
remained faithful to her royal protectress during her
misfortune, and to the day of her martyrdom. . . .

318 ROSE BEETIN

She changed her needle for an ugly quill, ennobled
by the use to which it was put. . . . We must say,
however, to protect ourselves, that there has been
some controversy respecting the authenticity of Mile.
Bertin's memoirs."

The memoirs are apocryphal, but Rose had seen
enough to have written them. Her role was not
without importance ; she was too near to the Queen
not to have known in detail many of the incidents
which are the subject of controversy. And had she
written the souvenirs of her life, we should not have
received them like Sainte - Beuve, with a mocking
laugh ; on the contrary, with eager curiosity we should
have allowed her to guide us through those past
days, about whose faded finery there lingers the
perfume of dead roses.

INDEX

Allonville, Comte d', 67
Almanach du Commerce, 291
des Modes, 161

Ballon, hairdress a la, 142

Bastille, bonnets <i la, 194

Beaulard, 43

Belle Poule, dress a la, 163

Bertin, Rose, birth of, 11 ; Brittany,
journey to, 168 ; Directoire, peti-
tion to, 256 ; fashion supplier to
Queen, 174 ; Germany, journey
to, 211 ; heirs, 304 ; influence, 25,
51 ; London, shop in, 254 ; mem-
oirs, 309 ; parents, 13 ; portrait,
295 ; by Jainnet, 151 ; Russia,
business in, 249 ; St. Petersburg,
dresses sent, 166 ; Spanish Court,
suppliers, 287 ; train carried, 108

Bertonienne, hat a la, 114

Bochart de Saron, 190

Bonnets a la bonne maman, 46 ; a la
Chartres, 26 ; a la Gertrude, 131 ;
a la paysanne, 57 ; picards, 101 ;
various, 194

Boue de Paris, hats a la, 147

Bouille, Mme. de, 246

Cabinet des Modes, 42, 58, 197

Cadogan, 144

Calonne, 153

Campan, Mme., 36, 39, 64

Caps a la hedgehog, 86

Chartres, bonnets h, la, 26 ; Due de,

15 ; Duchesse de, 16
Chasseriaux, 304
Chastenay, Mme. de, 278
Chateaubriand, 168
Cherubin, hats a la, 142
Citoyenne, bonnets a la, 194
Cockade, the, 200
Colin-Maillard, bonnets a la, 131
Colour, fashionable, 60
Conti, Princease, 14, 21

! Corazza, Charles, 228
Corbeille Galante, la, 177
Correspondance Litteraire, 43
Costume, Mme. du, 136

Dauphin, birth of, 131
Dress h, la Suzanne, 162
Du Barry, Mme., 13, 87 ; bills pre-
sented to by Bertin, 89
Duplouy, 227, 294

Eccentricities, end of era, 106, 133
Emigres, list of, 244
Entelles, M. des, 249
Eon, Chevalier d', 79
Epinay, Rose's house at, 217
Esprit, 'k la mode, 276

Falconnier, 11

Fashion during Revolution, 234 ; in

1797, 278 ; in 1798, 278 ; in 1810,

278
Fitz-James, Duchesse de, 269

Gallerie des Modes, 96
Garchi, 279

"Grand-Mogol,"22, 137
Grangeret, Maitre, 201, 306
Guertin, P., 123

Hardy, J. P., 177

Hats a la Henry IV., 69 ; a la laitiere,

57
Head-dresses, 53, 95
Hedgehog, caps k la, 86
Henri IV., bonnets a la, 131 ; hats

a la, 69
Houdetot, Mme. d', 292, 296

Jainnet, 152

Kerry, Lady, 193

Laage, Mme. de, 193

319

320

ROSE BERTIN

Lamballe, Princesse, 60, 215
Lamotte, Mme. de, 187
Leonard, Souvenirs of, 20, 28, 82
Leroi, costumierof Court of Napoleon,

287
Lever de la reine, bonnets k la, 194
Levite, la, 98

Loi, rue de la, Massacre, 279
Louis XVIIL, 305
Louise-Marie- Adelaide, 158

Madame Royale,

Marie- Antoinette, 11, 22; accounts
burnt by Bertin, 240, 305 ; Bertin,
intimacy with, 56 ; dresses, 205 ;
expenditure, 204 ; head-dresses,
110, 164 ; portrait of, 258 ; in the
Temple, 223 ; wardrobe, 202, 209

Marlborough, hats a la, 142

Meister, 43

Memoirs of Rose Bertin, 315

Mequignon, widow, 25

Milliners in eighteenth century, 19 ;
during Revolution, 247

Minerve, dress a la, 163

Monarchy, last years of, 180

Monflieres, pilgrimage to, 98

Musulmane, dresses a la, 26

Ninon, Epitre a, 250

Oberkircb, Mme. d', 33
Oliva, Mile., 13

Pagelle, Mile., 13, 18,87
Paris mud, 140

Penchet, 212, 299, 312

Picot, Mile., 115, 117

Pouf, 158 ; k, la circonstance, 35 ; 4

I'inoculation, 35 ; aux sentiments,

28, 32

Quaker bonnets, 162
Ques aco, 27
Quinault, Mile., 30

Razomowsky, Count, 224
Religieuse, bonnets a la, 142
Royal Family in prison, 222
Royale, Madame, birth of, 102

Sainte-Beuve, criticism of, 309
Semaine, la, 315
Sultane, bonnets a la, 26
Suzanne, dress a la, 162

Tableau de Paris, 53
Trait Galant, the, 13
Tuileries, the siege of, 208
Turkish dress, 140

Versailles, fashion at, 20, 40
Vigee-Lebrun, Mme., 165; portrait

of Queen by, 184
Villars, Duchesse de, 71
Vogin. 288

Walpole, Horace, 61
Wengel, Joseph, 139
Wertmuller, portrait by, 159
Williams, Helen Mary, 234

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, OUILDFORD

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Full text of "Rose Bertin, the creator of fashion at the court of Marie-Antoinette"

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